GIFT  OF 
Harry  East  Miller 


How  to  Play  Golf 


HOW  TO   PLAY  GOLF 


BY 


H.    J.    WHIGHAM 


HERBERT  S.   STONE   &   COMPANY 

CHICAGO   AND   NEW   YORK 

MDCCCXCVII 


QV 


GIFT 


COPYRIGHT,   1897,  BY 
HERBERT    S.    STONE   &    CO. 


To 
CHARLES    BLAIR   MACDONALD 

Who  has  done  more  than  any  one  else 
to  promote  the  best  interests  of  golf 
in  America,  this  volume  is  dedicated. 


M81823 


The  author  begs  to  acknowledge  his  in- 
debtedness to  MR.  E.  BURTON  HOLMES  for 
the  use  of  the  chronomatographe  pictures 
illustrating  this  volume. 


Contents 


PAGE 

ADVICE  TO  BEGINNERS         ..-•,./..  3 

THE  LONG  GAME        .  41 

IRON  PLAY            ./.'...  87 

PUTTING ,  129 

MISCELLANEOUS  SUGGESTIONS            .  151 

TRAINING  AND  TOURNAMENT  PLAY  171 
THE  MAKING  OF  A  NEW  COURSE      .  '    187 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  GAME  IN 

AMERICA 219 

AMATEURS  ABROAD      ....  243 

RULES 273 

ETIQUETTE  OF  GOLF           .          .         .  309 


CHAPTER  I. 

ADVICE    TO    BEGINNERS. 

THE  term  beginner,  as  applied  to  the 
game  of  golf,  covers  a  multitude  of 
varying-  aims  and  aspirations;  and  since  ad- 
vice is  surely  wasted  upon  those  who  either 
do  not  need  it  or  have  no  desire  for  it,  we 
may,  for  economical  purposes,  classify  be- 
ginners under  three  heads,  and  state  di- 
rectly the  particular  kind  of  novice  to  whom 
the  following-  suggestions  are  offered.  The 
first  class,  then,  is  composed  of  boys  under 
the  age  of  discretion,  who  learn  games  by  a 
natural  process  of  imitation  and  assimila- 
tion; in  the  second  are  found  all  those  of 
dyspeptic  habits  who  have  been  ordered  by 
their  physicians  to  take  a  round  of  golf, 
either  as  a  tonic  or  a  counter-irritant;  the 
third,  and  by  far  the  largest,  class  includes 
men  and  women  of  all  ages  and  tempera- 
ments, who  by  accident  or  intention,  have 
taken  an  interest  in  the  game  sufficient  to 
inspire  them  with  a  desire  for  improve- 
ment, and  yet  find  a  difficulty  in  acquiring 
any  accuracy  of  form  or  execution  on  ac- 
count of  the  lack  of  practical  information 
upon  the  subject. 


4  Professional    Teaching. 

The  Cangere  -^  *s  t°  this  last  and  most  sy m- 

of  Profsscioriil;  p^tfyt,1  tic  £lass  that  I  desire  chief- 
Teaching,  ly  to  address  a  few  remarks, 
with  just  a  word  of  explanation  in  advance. 
Many  may  object  to  the  presumption  that 
information  really  is  lacking-.  There  are 
standard  works  upon  the  science  of  golf, 
and  every  links  in  America,  or  indeed  in 
any  other  well  regulated  community,  is 
provided  with  a  first-class  professional 
direct  from  the  royal  and  ancient  home  of 
the  game  in  Scotland.  And  yet  the  Bad- 
minton book  in  its  general  tone  is,  like  all 
scientific  works,  more  an  aid  to  experts 
than  a  consolation  to  beginners  who  have 
been  led  astray  in  their  youth  by  devotion 
to  baseball  or  cricket.  As  for  the  profes- 
sional, the  disadvantages  under  which  he 
imparts  his  instruction  must  be  taken  into 
consideration  before  his  advice  can  be 
accepted  with  absolute  faith. 

Generally  speaking,  he  is  young,  and 
without  experience  in  the  matter  of  teach- 
ing. He  is  ignorant  of  the  ways  of  the 
people  he  has  to  deal  with,  and  having  no 
respect  for  any  game  but  his  own,  he  is  un- 
able to  distinguish  between  errors  which 
come  from  innate  viciousness  and  those 
which  have  been  induced  by  familiarity  with 
the  bat  or  the  racket.  Lastly,  he  can  seldom 


Choosing  Weapons.  5 

account  for  his  own  proficiency.  Golf  with 
him  is  more  a  second  nature  than  an  accom- 
plishment; he  succeeds  in  his  art  not  of 
malice  prepense,  as  Aristotle  would  say, 
but  simply  because  he  cannot  help  it;  and 
the  fact  that  he  is  a  good  player  is  no  crite- 
rion whatever  of  his  ability  as  an  instructor 
of  others. 

Of  course  there  are  many  professionals 
who  are  excellent  teachers.  But  I  have 
seen  so  many  novices,  both  in  America  and 
England,  who,  in  spite  of  professional  coach- 
ing-— or  because  of  it — are  attempting-  to  play 
g-olf  in  a  manner  that  never  can  be  anything 
but  a  source  of  grief  to  themselves  and  pity 
in  their  friends,  that  I  have  determined  to 
lay  down  a  few  simple  maxims  which  are 
not  based  upon  any  dog-ma  or  theory,  but 
upon  actual  observation. 

The  Choice  of  Let  us  beg-in  at  the  very  be- 
Weapons.  ginning-,  then,  and  having- taken 
it  for  granted  that  the  tyro  really  wishes  to 
play  golf,  and  not  some  other  inferior  game, 
let  us  put  him  in  the  right  direction  at  the 
start. 

He  must  not,  in  the  first  place,  buy  a 
complete  set  of  clubs,  because  he  cannot 
possibly  expect  to  play  with  more  than 
three  of  them  under  two  months'  time,  and 
the  rest  will  only  distract  his  attention. 


6      Score  Counting  must  be  Avoided. 

Score  Count=  Secondly,  he  will  be  wise  to 
ing  must  be  keep  off  the  regular  course  as 
Avoided.  long-  as  possible,  for  as  soon  as  he 

playseighteen  holeshe  will  beg-in  tocount  his 
score  and  trouble  the  handicapper.  This 
is  the  most  prevalent  disease  among-  young 
g-olfers,  and  one  that  will  check  his  progress 
more  than  anything-  else.  I  may  be  par- 
doned, therefore,  for  dwelling-  a  moment 
upon  the  subject.  The  average  beginner 
finds  it  very  difficult  to  understand  why  he 
should  be  warned  against  this  score  count- 
ing habit,  arguing,  with  some  show  of  plaus- 
ibility, that  the  lowering  of  one's  record  is 
a  strong  incentive  toward  improvement  in 
the  game.  He  forgets,  however,  that  apart 
from  the  fact  that  his  endeavors  to  get  be- 
low the  hundred  will  make  him  unfit  for 
human  companionship,  the  mere  anxiety  to 
succeed  in  a  nominal  and  numerical  way 
must  have  a  bad  effect  upon  his  style.  He 
will  adopt  any  and  every  method  whereby 
he  may  the  more  readily  reach  the  hole; 
some  friend  will  give  him  a  piece  of  advice 
which  will  make  him  more  accurate  for  the 
time  being,  but  will  sacrifice  for  him  all 
hopes  of  ever  hitting  the  ball  in  the  right 
way;  so  that,  finally,  by  the  time  he  has 
surprised  himself  by  going  the  whole  round 
of  eighteen  holes  in  ninety-nine  strokes, 


Use  a  Wooden  Club.  7 

without  a  single  effort  of  the  imagination, 
and  has  won  several  useless  and  inartistic 
cups,  he  will  find  that  he  has  forfeited  all 
possibility  of  becoming*  a  first-class  player. 

It  would  be  a  good  rule,  then,  for  every 
beginner  to  refuse  absolutely  to  count  his 
score  until  he  has  played  six  months;  and 
above  all  let  him  remember  that  it  is  better 
to  miss  the  ball  fifty  times  in  succession  in 
the  right  way  than  to  hit  it  once  by  some 
inauthentic  trick. 

Use  a  Wooden  It  will  be  best  for  our  novice 
Club.  to  retire  with  his  caddy  or  his 

adviser  to  some  remote  locality  with  plenty 
of  old  balls  and  only  one  club.  That  club 
must  be  of  the  wooden  variety.  The  shaft 
should  be  strong-,  but  not  too  clumsy,  with 
just  a  little  spring-  at  the  lower  end.  The 
head  should  be  a  bulg-er. 

It  is  a  mystery  to  me  why  every  begin- 
ner is  taug-ht  to  play  with  an  old-fashioned, 
long-headed  driver.  It  would  be  just  as 
sensible  to  offer  a  young  tennis  player  one 
of  the  old  lob-sided  rackets  to  learn  the 
game  with.  The  bulger  is  not  only  the 
best  kind  of  head  for  experts,  but  it  was 
especially  invented  to  obviate  the  faults 
which  are  most  inherent  in  young  players. 
The  compact  form  of  the  head  makes  accu- 
rate hitting  far  more  easy,  and  the  bulge  is 


8          The  Position  of  the  Hands. 

intended  to  counteract  all  tendencies  to  slice 
and  pull. 

The  angle  of  the  head  with  the  shaft 
should  not  be  too  obtuse.  Tastes  vary,  of 
course,  on  that  point,  but  the  general  fault 
in  wooden  clubs  is  that  they  err  in  not  be- 
ing- sufficiently  upright. 

The  Position  The  club  having  been  selected, 
of  the  Hands,  attention  should  be  given  to  the 
grip.  There  are  only  two  possible  positions 
for  the  hands  in  driving,  and  they  are  shown 
on  the  opposite  page.  The  position  of  the 
left  hand  is  the  same  in  both  cases.  The 
shaft  of  the  club  must  be  gripped  firmly  in 
the  palm  in  such  a  way  that  when  the  ball 
is  addressed,  the  fingers,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  third  joint  of  the  first  finger  and 
the  second  joint  of  the  thumb,  are  invisible. 
There  is  no  other  way  of  holding  the  club 
in  the  left  hand.  And  yet  I  have  seen  num- 
bers of  beginners  who  have  been  coached 
for  weeks,  holding  the  left  hand  underneath 
the  club  to  such  an  extent  that  the  first  and 
second  joints  of  the  fingers  are  plainly  vis- 
ible above  the  shaft.  The  most  casual  trial 
will  prove  that  the  latter  method  is  quite 
incompatible  with  an  easy  swing. 

With  regard  to  the  right  hand,  there  are 
two  opinions  among  the  experts.  Gener- 
ally speaking,  the  best  players  hold  the  club 


POSITION  OF  THE  HANDS 


WITH  THE   CfcUB  IN  THE  FINGERS  OF  THE  RIGHT  HAND 


io       The  Position  of  the  Hands. 

lightly,  but  not  loosely,  in  the  fingers  of  the 
right  hand  in  such  a  manner  that  the  thumb 
lies  across  the  upper  surface  of  the  shaft, 
with  the  first  joints  of  the  fingers  barely 
visible.  This  has  always  been  the  accepted 
book  form,  and  the  beginner  will  probably 
find  it  wise  to  adopt  it,  unless  the  second 
way  is  distinctly  easier  for  him. 

In  the  second  illustration  it  will  be  ob- 
served that  the  club  is  grasped  firmly  in 
the  palm  of  the  right  hand,  and  the  hand  is 
held  under  the  shaft,  so  that  the  second 
joints  of  the  fingers  are  clearly  visible 
above  it. 

Although  I  should  favor  the  first  posi- 
tion, there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  second 
way  has  been  made  enormously  effective  in 
the  hands  of  many  of  the  best  players,  both 
professional  and  amateur.  It  is  a  marked 
peculiarity  of  the  St.  Andrews  players,  who 
probably  learned  it  from  the  Kirkcaldy 
brothers;  but  it  is  certainly  not  confined  to 
St.  Andrews.  Mr.  John  Ball,  Jr.,  to  men- 
tion no  others,  holds  the  club  tightly  in  the 
palm  of  the  right  hand ;  and  if  the  poll  could 
be  taken,  it  would  be  very  hard  to  say  upon 
which  side  the  majority  of  first-class  golf- 
ers would  be  found.  Two  of  the  finest 
drivers  in  Scotland,  Mr.  Edward  Blackwell 
and  Mr.  F.  G.  Tait,  certainly  incline  to  the 


POSITION  OF  THE  HANDS 


WITH  TH£  CLUB  IN  THE  PALM  OF  THE  RIGHT  HAND 
11 


12  The   Stance. 

second  method,  and  yet  the  first  is  invari- 
ably recommended  in  books. 

The  books  and  the  professional  advisers 
can  hardly  do  otherwise,  however,  because 
one  of  their  first  maxims  is  that  the  club 
must  be  held  loosely  in  the  right  hand. 
Now,  it  is  plain  it  cannot  be  held  very 
loosely  in  the  second  way.  The  fact  is,  that 
the  old  maxim,  which  is  thrown  at  the  head 
of  every  beginner,  is  responsible  for  an 
untold  multitude  of  misfortunes.  I  would 
rather  say,  hold  firmly  with  both  hands  and 
choose  whichever  method  pleases  you  best, 
only  remembering  this,  that  the  first  admits 
of  an  easier  and  rather  more  graceful  swing-, 
while  the  second  enables  the  player  to  em- 
ploy the  whole  force  of  the  rig-ht  forearm— 
and  that  is  the  secret  of  most  long-  driving-. 
At  present,  however,  we  have  nothing-  to  do 
with  long-  driving".  We  shall  be  very  well 
content  if  the  ball  is  struck  clean,  irrespect- 
ive of  the  distance. 

The  Stance.  Let  the  novice  grasp  his  club 
in  one  of  the  manners  described,  and  stand 
square  to  the  ball,  not  stooping-  too  much, 
nor  yet  uncompromisingly  rigid. 

The  books  tell  him  that  he  may  stand,  as 
regards  the  ball,  in  one  of  two  ways,  basing 
their  arguments  upon  the  best  form.  But 
driving  from  the  left  leg  has  gone  out  so 


THE  STANCE 


POSITION   IN   DKIV 
13 


H  The  Stance. 

much  in  the  last  few  years  that  the  open 
style  may  be  regarded  as  the  only  one  which 
it  is  worth  while  to  teach  beginners. 

He  must  take  his  position,  then,  with  the 
ball  placed  rather  more  toward  his  left  than 
his  right  leg,  and  at  such  a  distance  that  he 
can  place  the  head  of  the  club  comfortably 
behind  it  without  stooping  or  stretching  out 
the  arms,  and  leaving  as  obtuse  an  angle  as 
possible  between  the  arms  and  the  shaft  of 
the  club. 

The  feet  should  be  from  two  to  two  and 
a  half  feet  apart,  according  to  height,  and 
the  right  if  anything  advanced  a  trifle  in 
front  of  the  left. 

This  style  has  generally  been  referred 
to  as  driving  off  the  right  leg,  as  opposed 
to  the  method  of  driving  from  the  left  leg, 
already  mentioned.  But  that  is  in  reality 
an  abuse  of  language. 

When  the  right  leg  is  advanced  so  far 
that  the  weight  of  the  body  rests  almost 
entirely  upon  it,  the  expression  is  perfectly 
correct;  but  that  is  not  what  is  at  present 
intended.  The  beginner  must  accustom 
himself  to  stand  fairly  erect,  with  the  weight 
of  the  body  equally  distributed  between 
each  leg;  he  will  then  drive  not  from  one  or 
the  other,  but  from  both,  and  that  is  the 
only  correct  method. 


The  Swing.  15 

In  swing-ing-  back  he  will  let  the  weig-ht 
fall  naturally  upon  the  rig-ht  foot  until  the 
top  of  the  swing-  is  reached.  In  coming- 
forward  ag-ain,  the  weig-ht  will  follow  the 
club,  and  when  the  drive  is  finished  it  will 
rest  almost  entirely  upon  the  left  foot. 

But  this  must  be  done  unconsciously. 
As  soon  as  the  beginner  allows  himself  to 
think  about  chang-ing-  his  center  of  gravity 
his  swing  is  sure  to  get  out  of  gear.  It  will 
be  quite  sufficient,  then,  if  he  will  stand  cor- 
rectly in  the  first  place,  and  swing  as  I  shall 
instruct  him. 

The  Swing.  Here  is  the  crucial  point.  He 
will  probably  be  persuaded  to  imitate  the 
long  swing  of  his  professional  adviser.  If 
he  does  so,  he  is  almost  certainly  lost. 
There  are  exceptions  even  to  this  rule,  but 
generally  speaking,  no  man  or  woman  whose 
muscles  have  become  set,  should  ever  at- 
tempt a  full  swing  until  it  comes  of  its  own 
accord. 

Begin  with  what  your  professional  calls 
a  half  shot.  That  is  to  say,  let  the  arms  go 
back  just  as  far  as  possible  without  making 
a  break  in  the  motion.  The  club  must 
swing  backward  and  forward  as  smoothly 
as  the  pendulum  of  a  clock.  The  left  wrist 
and  elbow  should  be  kept  almost  in  a 
straight  line,  and  only  the  right  wrist  and 


1 6  The  Swing. 

elbow  should  be  bent  as  the  club  moves 
backward.  Practice  this  stroke  until  you 
can  hit  the  ball  accurately,  and  you  will  be 
astonished  how  far  it  will  go  with  only  a 
very  small  expenditure  of  force. 

Your  young*  golfer,  however,  is  a  very 
ambitious  individual,  and  he  will  not  be  con- 
tent to  forego  his  cherished  St.  Andrews 
swing-  unless  he  is  given  good  reasons.  He 
will  generally  argue  that  form  must  be 
acquired  at  any  cost,  and  confront  me  with 
my  own  statement  that  it  is  better  to  miss 
the  ball  in  the  right  way  than  to  hit  it  in 
the  wrong-.  First,  then,  let  me  ask  him 
whether  it  is  not  far  better  to  achieve  a 
half  swing-  than  no  swing-  at  all. 

He  must  remember  that  driving-  is  en- 
tirely a  matter  of  swing-.  As  soon  as  he 
begins  to  hit  at  the  ball  he  is  hopelessly 
ruined.  He  must  at  all  costs  learn  to  sweep 
the  ball  away  as  if  it  were  an  object  of  no 
weight  at  all.  Consequently,  if  he  can  learn 
a  true  half  swing,  he  is  at  least  on  the  road 
to  grace;  whereas  the  contortions  which 
he  goes  through  in  acquiring  what  he  im- 
agines to  be  the  proper  St.  Andrews  style 
do  not  constitute  a  swing  at  all,  and  he 
will  probably  spend  months  and  months 
attempting  to  sandpaper  it  down  into  some- 
thing like  a  regular  sweep.  In  the  mean- 


The  Swing.  17 

time  his  less  ambitious  brother  in  golf  will 
have  outstripped  him  with  ease;  not,  be  it 
understood,  in  the  matter  of  score  —  for 
that  is  of  no  importance  —  but  in  the  effect- 
iveness of  his  play  and  the  evenness  of  his 
swing-. 

Of  course  it  is  not  intended  that  the  late 
beginner  should  not  in  time  develop  a  real 
St.  Andrews  swing-.  The  only  question  is, 
How  can  he  do  it  most  easily?  When  he  has 
played  long-  enoug-h  and  watched  the  mo- 
tions of  all  the  first-class  golfers  he  may 
come  across,  he  will  gradually  find  his  swing 
lengthening  out  without  any  conscious  ef- 
fort on  his  own  part  and  without  any  break 
in  the  motion. 

A  golfing  swing  is  rather  like  the  human 
voice.  There  is  a  definite  break  which  years 
of  practice  only  can  smooth  away.  In  train- 
ing the  voice  the  teacher  develops  both  the 
lower  and  the  upper  register,  and  in  so 
doing  works  one  into  the  other  so  as  to  con- 
ceal the  break.  The  teacher  in  golf  —  at 
least,  where  he  has  to  deal  with  adult  pupils 
—  should  adopt  just  the  contrary  method. 
He  should  develop  the  lower  register  only, 
and  go  on  extending  it  until  it  gradually 
glides  into  the  upper  register  without  en- 
countering the  break  at  all. 

That  is  the   theoretical   reason  for  en- 


1 8  The  Swing. 

couraging  the  half  swing-.  Fortunately,  in 
this  case  the  practice  bears  out  the  theory. 

At  the  present  moment  three  of  the  best 
American  players,  according-  to  public  form, 
are  A.  H.  Fenn,  A.  Tyng-  and  H.  Harriman. 
There  are  several  young-er  players  who  are 
quite  as  good  now,  and  probably  will  very 
soon  pass  the  older  conting-ent  in  the  race. 
But  these  colleg-e  boys,  like  Betts,  Reid, 
Terry,  Walter  Smith,  Bayard  and  many 
others,  hardly  enter  into  the  present  dis- 
cussion. They  have  learned  the  game  early 
enough  in  life  to  imitate  the  reg-ular  pro- 
fessional swing-  without  dang-er. 

Of  the  older  g-olfers,  however,  Fenn  and 
Tyng  have  certainly  earned  the  right  to  be 
considered  in  the  front  rank,  and  Harriman 
I  class  with  them,  not  because  his  record  is 
so  extensive,  nor  because  he  happened  to 
defeat  Tyng  in  playing  for  the  amateur 
championship,  but  because  his  style  strikes 
me  as  being  the  best  exposition  of  the 
method  which  ought  to  be  followed  by  adult 
beginners. 

Turn  to  the  photographs  of  these  play- 
ers, andyou  will  observe  that  not  one  of  them 
has  a  full  swing,  Fenn  and  Tyng  being 
most  remarkable  in  this  respect.  But  you 
will  also  see  that  in  each  case  the  stroke  is 
followed  through  to  the  finish.  Thus  the 


The  Swing.  19 

head  of  the  club  is  kept  traveling"  as  long1  as 
possible  in  the  line  of  the  ball's  flight. 

Another  point  will  strike  you  if  you  look 
carefully  at  the  different  illustrations:  You 
will  see  that  in  Harriman's  case  the  hands 
g-o  back  very  nearly  as  far  as  in  the  pictures 
of  the  Scotch  players.  And  yet  the  casual 
observer  would  never  suspect  Harrimanof 
having1  a  full  swing-;  which  g-oes  to  prove 
that  the  eye  is  often  deceived,  and  that  what 
looks  like  a  very  long*  swing1  is  in  reality  not 
so  very  much  longer  than  the  stroke  which 
I  recommend  to  the  beg-inner. 

The  arg-ument,  moreover,  does  not  apply 
to  American  players  alone.  In  the  first 
rank  of  English  and  Scotch  g-olfers  it  would 
be  hard  to  find  a  single  expert  who  did  not 
learn  the  game  as  a  boy.  But  among-  those 
who  beg-an  later  in  life,  the  best  are  cer- 
tainly those  who  use  little  more  than  a  half 
swing-.  Two  g-ood  instances  come  readily 
to  mind:  Mr.  Oswald,  who  was  last  year 
captain  of  the  St.  Andrews  g-olf  club,  is  one 
of  the  steadiest  players  on  any  links.  He 
is  not  absolutely  first-class,  but  there  are 
very  few  players  who  can  g-ive  him  odds 
with  safety;  yet  in  driving-,  his  hands 
hardly  reach  the  level  of  his  shoulder.  Mr. 
Walter  De  Zoete  is  another  and  even  more 
extraordinary  case  in  point.  He  plays  with 


2O         The  Finish  of  the  Stroke. 

an  easy  half  swing",  and  he  has  passed  the 
ag-e  when  men  expect  to  be  pre-eminent  in 
sports;  yet  there  is  hardly  a  golfer,  young 
or  old,  who  can  beat  him  over  his  native 
heath  at  North  Berwick  in  Scotland. 
The  Finish  of  I  hope,  then,  that  the  advan- 
the  Stroke.  tag-es  of  the  short  swing-  for 
those  who  beg-in  golf  comparatively  late  in 
life,  are  by  this  time  sufficiently  apparent. 
Having-  adopted  this  method,  the  beginner 
must  remember  that  the  finish  of  the  stroke 
is  at  least  as  important  as  the  beginning-. 
It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  he  should 
keep  the  head  of  the  club  traveling-  in  the 
line  of  the  ball's  flight  as  long-  as  possible, 
and  this  can  only  be  done  by  letting-  the 
weig-ht  of  the  body  follow  the  stroke  until  it 
rests  entirely  on  the  left  leg-.  The  rig-lit 
shoulder  must  also  come  forward,  and  the 
tendency  to  draw  back  both  the  shoulders 
and  the  arms  after  the  ball  has  been  struck 
must  be  overcome  at  any  price.  Examine 
the  different  positions  at  the  end  of  the 
stroke,  and  you  will  see  that  there  is  more 
of  the  swing-  after  the  ball  is  hit  than  be- 
fore; the  practical  explanation  of  which  is 
that  in  order  to  secure  a  good  finish  the 
club  must  be  traveling-  very  fast  when  it 
reaches  the  ball.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
stroke  is  ended  as  soon  as  the  ball  is  struck 


Summary.  2 1 

the  swing-  must  be  gradually  becoming- 
slower  before  the  club  reaches  the  ball,  and 
the  drive  is  robbed  of  most  of  its  force. 

In  actual  practice  you  will  find  that  as 
the  club  g-oes  back  the  heel  of  the  left  foot 
is  torn,  as  it  were,  from  the  ground.  Simi- 
larly, when  the  stroke  is  finished,  if  the 
weight  is  carried  through  correctly,  the 
rig-ht  heel  is  sure  to  rise.  But  in  both  cases 
the  action  must  be  unconscious.  Do  not 
pay  any  attention  to  a  professional  adviser 
who  tells  you  to  turn  your  heel.  There  is 
absolutely  no  virtue  in  the  motion  unless  it 
is  spontaneous.  Practice  your  swing-  con- 
stantly and  the  rest  will  come  in  due  time. 
Summary.  To  put  it  shortly  and  nega- 

tively, then: 

Don't  beg-in  by  counting-  your  score. 

Don't  use  an  iron  club,  nor  an  old  fash- 
ioned wooden  one. 

Don't  hold  loosely  with  your  rig-ht  hand. 

Don't  raise  either  heel  from  the  ground 
until  it  comes  naturally. 

Don't,  above  all,  as  you  value  your  golf- 
ing  future,  adopt  a  full  St.  Andrews  swing-. 

So  much  in  the  way  of  sug-g-estion  to  the 
real  beginner.  In  the  next  chapter  I  shall 
address  a  few  remarks  to  those  who  have 
advanced  far  enoug-h  to  play  a  definite  kind 
of  game,  whether  good,  bad  or  indifferent. 


Driving— American  Style 

MR.    W.   R.   BETTS 
MR.    A.    H.   FENN 
MR.  J.   A.   TYNG 
MR.   H.    M.   HARRIMAN 


MR.    W.    R.    BETTS 

YALE    GOLF    CLUB 

I.     At  the   Top  of  the  Swing 
II.     Coming  Through 
III.      The  Finish 


II 


Ill 


MR.    A.    H.    FENN 

PALMETTO  GOLF  CLUB 

I.     At  the   Top  of  the  Swing 
II.      Coming  Through 
III.     The  Finish 


II 


Ill 


31 


MR.    J.    A.    TYNG 

MORRIS    COUNTY    GOLF    CLUB 

I.     At  the  Top  of  the  Swing 
II.      Coming-  Through 
III.      The  Finish 


II 


34 


Ill 


MR.    H.    M.    HARRIMAN 

KNOLLWOOD   GOLF    CLUB 

I.     At  the   7^op  of  the  Swing 
II  and  III.      Coming  Through 
IV.      The  Finish 


II 


Ill 


IV 


40 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   LONG   GAME. 

THE  young"  golfer  who  has  learned  with 
some  difficulty  to  play  a  moderately 
steady  game  is  certain  to  experience  re- 
lapses from  time  to  time,  and  it  is  the 
object  of  the  present  chapter  to  point  out 
the  most  fruitful  sources  of  error  in  driv- 
ing- from  the  tee  and  through  the  green. 
Faults  to  be  When  he  is  alternately  hitting 
Avoided.  his  ball  on  the  top,  and  striking 
the  ground  several  inches  behind  it,  he  will 
probably  be  told  that  he  is  pressing  or  tak- 
ing his  eye  off  the  ball.  But  neither  of 
these  reasons  is  sufficient  to  explain  con- 
sistent bad  play. 

The  most  frequent  fault  which  assails 
all  golfers,  both  good  and  bad,  consists  in 
standing  too  much  in  front  of  the  ball. 
That  is  to  say,  the  ball  is  placed  opposite 
the  right  foot,  instead  of  being  very  nearly 
opposite  the  left.  The  consequence  is  that 
the  club  comes  down  upon  the  top  of  the 
ball  or  behind  it,  as  the  case  may  be,  instead 
of  meeting  it  just  as  the  head  is  on  the  rise. 
The  effect  on  the  swing  itself  is  extremely 
detrimental,  for  not  only  does  the  player 
strike  the  ball  at  the  wrong  point  of  the 


42  Faults  to  be  Avoided. 

circle,  but  he  begins  to  chop  down  upon  it 
instead  of  sweeping-  it  away.  Whenever, 
therefore,  you  find  yourself  hitting-  your 
ball  on  the  top  or  else  g-etting-  it  very  hig-h 
in  the  air,  examine  carefully  your  position, 
and  you  will  generally  find  that  your  ball  is 
too  near  your  rig-ht  foot. 

Another  fault  which  manifests  itself  in 
various  ways  consists  in  falling-  back  at  the 
end  of  the  stroke.  The  arms  and  shoulders, 
instead  of  following-  the  line  of  the  ball's 
flight,  are  drawn  quickly  round  to  the  left, 
and  the  consequence  is  a  terrific  pull;  or 
else  the  ball  is  struck  on  the  toe  of  the  club 
and  flies  off  to  the  rig-ht.  The  effect  in 
both  cases  is  disastrous,  and  the  two  shots 
are  so  entirely  unlike  that  the  novice  does 
not  recognize  the  fact  that  both  are  caused 
by  the  same  error  in  style.  Very  often, 
too,  the  driving-  is  loose  and  fails  in  the 
matter  of  distance  because  the  player  is  not 
standing-  up  squarely  to  the  ball.  His  hands 
are  getting-  too  low,  the  angle  between  the 
arms  and  the  shaft  is  too  pronounced,  and 
the  sole  of  the  club  is  not  placed  evenly  on 
the  ground,  when  the  ball  is  addressed. 
Very  often,  too,  the  club  is  being  held  too 
loosely,  the  thumbs  are  straying  down  the 
shaft  instead  of  across  it,  and  the  club  is 
allowed  to  turn  as  it  strikes  the  ball. 


Faults  to  be  Avoided.  43 

All  these  errors,  however  slight,  will 
have  a  bad  effect  upon  the  flight  of  the  ball. 
So  that  generally  speaking,  when  a  player  is 
driving  poorly,  he  ought  to  brace  himself 
up,  take  a  firmer  grip  of  his  club,  stand 
more  erect,  and  be  sure  that  he  is  soling 
the  head  of  his  club  squarely  behind  the 
ball,  so  that  both  toe  and  heel  are  on  the 
ground,  and  the  surface  of  the  face  makes  a 
right  angle  with  the  surface  of  the  earth. 
In  attempting  this  cure,  he  may  perhaps  go 
to  the  other  extreme  and  become  almost 
rigid.  But  that  is  the  better  fault  of  the 
two.  It  is  only  when  a  man  is  at  the  very 
top  of  his  game,  when  eye  and  hand  are 
in  exact  accord,  that  he  can  with  safety 
loosen  every  muscle  in  his  body  in  order  to 
get  every  ounce  of  weight  into  the  swing. 
When  a  player  gets  to  this  state  he  is  a  long 
way  beyond  advice.  He  can  hold  his  club 
with  the  very  lightest  grip,  he  can  swing 
rapidly  and  with  all  his  might,  and  it  does 
not  matter  very  much  whether  he  looks  at 
the  ball  or  not. 

This  is  a  state  of  things,  however,  which 
rarely  comes  to  any  one  except  the  first- 
class  player.  The  average  golfer  must  be 
content  for  the  most  part  to  purchase  accu- 
racy at  the  expense  of  a  little  flexibility. 

After  all,  driving  is  mainly  a  matter  of 


44        The  Refinements  of  Driving. 

following-  the  stroke  through  with  the  arms 
and  shoulders,  and  for  that  reason  the  half 
swing  should  be  continually  practiced,  be- 
cause there  a  man  is  bound  to  follow  through 
in  order  to  get  any  distance  at  all;  so  that 
when  you  are  driving  short  or  slicing  badly, 
go  back  to  a  half  swing  for  an  hour  or  two 
and  learn  to  get  the  arms  and  shoulders 
well  away  after  the  ball. 

The  Refine=  The  rules  for  driving  off  the 
ments  of  tee  and  brassey  play  are  rather 
Driving.  similar  to  the  rules  for  the 

fourth  hand  at  whist.  All  you  have  got  to 
do  is  to  hit  the  ball.  But  there  are  a  few 
refinements  which  may  be  brought  into 
play  with  a  little  practice. 
Allowing  for  A  great  many  golf er-s  who 
Wind.  have  risen  well  into  the  second 

rank,  find  that  their  game  deteriorates  tre- 
mendously in  a  high  wind.  Even  the  best 
players  are  often  disturbed  by  the  ele- 
ments, and  it  seems  to  me  that  their  diffi- 
culty arises  from  a  very  simple  and  very 
common  fault. 

In  golf,  as  in  archery,  the  man  who 
stands  most  firmly  on  his  feet  will  always, 
other  things  being  equal,  beat  his  opponents 
on  a  stormy  day.  It  is  obvious,  therefore, 
that  the  higher  the  wind  the  more  easily 
must  the  player  swing  his  club,  otherwise 


Allowing  for  Wind.  45 

he  is  bound  to  lose  his  balance.  Yet  the 
constant  tendency  is  to  use  an  extra  effort, 
especially  in  playing*  against  the  wind. 
Remember,  then,  the  swing-  must  be  par- 
ticularly easy,  and  special  attention  must 
be  given  to  the  followthroug-h — your  object 
being-  to  hit  the  ball  absolutely  clean.  On  a 
calm  day  a  ball  may  be  sliced  or  pulled  or 
hit  hig-h  in  the  air,  without  great  loss  of  dis- 
tance. On  a  windy  day,  the  slig-htest  inac- 
curacy is  ten  times  exaggerated,  and  the 
man  who  is  accustomed  to  drive  with  a  cut 
will  find  himself  hopelessly  out  of  the  run- 
ning-. Consequently,  your  first  care  on  a 
windy  day  must  be  to  swing-  absolutely 
true,  and  this  is  impossible  if  any  attempt 
is  made  to  force  the  stroke. 

Secondly,  do  not  try  to  drive  a  low  ball 
against  the  wind.  It  is  no  uncommon  thing 
to  hear  even  a  first-class  player  excusing 
himself  for  a  very  bad  shot,  by  explaining 
that  he  was  trying-  to  half-top  the  ball,  so 
as  to  keep  it  near  the  ground  in  its  flight. 
He  ought  to  know  that,  wind  or  no  wind,  a 
ball  that  is  half-topped  will  not  fly  so  far  as 
one  that  is  clean  hit.  Moreover,  in  placing 
your  ball  in  such  a  position  as  to  hit  it  half  on 
the  top,  you  are  almost  certainly  interfering 
with  your  swing,  and  the  result  may  either 
be  a  ball  that  runs  along  the  ground  into  the 


46       Driving  with  a  Cross  Wind. 

nearest  bunker,  or  one  that  spouts  into  the 
air  and  is  instantly  checked  by  the  wind. 

Remember  that  a  really  clean-hit  ball 
from  a  low  tee  never  flies  very  high,  and 
the  cleaner  it  is  struck  the  better  will  it 
keep  its  course,  even  in  the  teeth  of  a  gale. 

In  driving  against  the  wind,  therefore, 
it  is  sufficient  to  bear  in  mind  that  you  must 
swing  easily  and  in  your  natural  way.  Any 
extra  effort  of  any  sort  will  assuredly  prove 
disastrous. 

Similarly,  with  a  strong  wind  behind 
you,  do  not  try  to  drive  an  abnormally  long 
ball.  If  you  do,  you  will  probably  lose  your 
balance  and  fail  to  hit  the  ball  clean,  in 
which  case  all  the  advantage  of  the  wind  is 
lost. 

Driving  with  a  A  wind  that  blows  across  the 
Cross  Wind,  course  is  rather  more  difficult 
to  deal  with.  Under  such  circumstances  a 
ball  that  is  driven  absolutely  straight  will 
suffer  a  certain  hindrance.  You  may,  how- 
ever, make  such  a  use  of  the  wind.that  it 
actually  helps  rather  than  impedes  your 
stroke.  Technically  speaking,  you  can  play 
for  a  pull  with  the  wind  blowing  from  right 
to  left,  and  play  for  a  slice  with  the  wind 
blowing  from  left  to  right. 

These  terms  are  a  little  misleading,  be- 
cause in  reality  you  must  pull  or  slice,  as 


Driving  with  a  Cross  Wind.       47 

the  case  may  be,  only  to  a  fraction  of  a  hair's 
breadth.  It  is  easy  enough  to  pull  your 
ball  badly.  You  need  only  stand  in  front 
of  it,  aim  well  to  the  right,  and  the  pull  will 
come.  But  then  you  will  find  that  your  ball 
travels  no  farther  than  if  you  had  hit  it 
straight  down  the  course.  The  proper 
method  is  far  more  artistic.  You  must  aim 
very  slightly  to  the  right,  place  your  ball  a 
very  little  farther  back  than  usual,  grip 
your  club  firmly  in  both  hands,  and  then 
hit  your  ball  straight  and  clean,  without 
thinking  of  the  pull  at  all.  As  soon  as  you 
begin  to  think  about  it,  you  will  draw  your 
arms  and  shoulders  round  to  the  left  at  the 
end  of  the  swing,  and  the  result  will  be  a 
very  bad  pull  indeed.  All  you  have  got  to 
do  is  to  hit  the  ball  true  and  follow  the 
stroke  through  to  the  finish,  and  the  wind 
will  do  the  rest. 

When  the  wind  is  in  the  other  direction, 
you  must  be  particularly  careful  not  to  slice, 
because  however  much  you  may  allow  for 
it,  a  slice  is  almost  sure  to  land  you  in 
trouble.  And  yet  it  is  very  hard  to  avoid 
slicing  with  a  wind  blowing  over  your  left 
shoulder,  because  in  aiming  well  to  the  left 
you  forget  to  change  the  position  of  the  ball 
in  addressing  it;  consequently  it  is  too  far 
back,  and  a  true  swing  is  impossible. 


48  On  Long  Driving. 

Remember,  then,  in  playing-  for  a  slice 
you  must  endeavor  before  all  things  not  to 
slice  at  all.  Aim  to  the  left  and  keep  the 
ball  well  in  front  of  you  when  you  address 
it — that  is  to  say,  almost  opposite  to  your 
left  foot. 

On  Long  Long-  driving-  has  so  many  fas- 
Driving,  cinations,  especially  for  the  begin- 
ner, that  any  discovery  of  a  royal  road 
toward  acquiring-  the  habit  would  be  ex- 
ceedingly welcome.  Unfortunately  there  is 
no  possibility  of  any  such  discovery.  Long- 
driving-  is  simply  another  expression  for 
clean  hitting-.  No  man  who  does  not  swing- 
true  will  ever  be  a  long-  driver.  He  may 
occasionally  by  some  accident  g-et  the  whole 
weig-ht  of  his  body  into  the  stroke  and  hit 
the  ball  a  very  great  distance,  but  that  will 
not  constitute  him  a  long-  driver.  It  is  the 
averag-e  that  tells,  and  not  the  one  good 
drive  out  of  ten  when  the  others  are  all 
bad.  And  a  true  swing  can  only  be  ac- 
quired by  steady  practice.  At  first  per- 
haps only  the  arms  can  be  brought  into 
play.  But  by  degrees  the  shoulders  and 
the  hips  will  become  more  supple.  Ex- 
amine the  accompanying  illustrations  care- 
fully, and  you  will  see  that  at  the  top  of  the 
swing  every  ounce  in  the  body  almost  rests 
on  the  right  leg.  As  the  club  comes  down, 


On   Long  Driving.  49 

the  balance  is  restored  and  the  weight  is 
almost  evenly  distributed  as  the  ball  is 
struck;  but  it  is  moving-  forward  all  the 
time  until  at  the  finish  of  the  stroke  it  rests 
entirely  on  the  left  leg-.  And  yet,  althoug-h 
the  weig-ht  chang-es,  the  body  does  not 
appear  to  alter  its  position  to  any  great  ex- 
tent; the  shoulders  revolve  upon  an  almost 
immovable  axis.  There  must  be  no  for- 
ward movement  of  the  whole  person  as 
there  is  in  baseball  or  cricket.  The  weight 
certainly  moves,  and  that  is  where  the 
strength  of  the  stroke  comes  from,  but  it 
must  be  transferred  almost  invisibly,  and 
the  momentum  must  be  applied  to  the  ball 
chiefly  through  the  medium  of  the  right 
shoulder  and  forearm. 

Now,  all  this  may  sound  very  vague,  but 
if  you  study  the  illustrations  you  will  under- 
stand partly  what  is  meant,  and  if  you  will 
go  out  and  watch  a  good  driver  at  work  you 
will  understand  a  great  deal  better.  In 
fact,  if  you  want  to  succeed  in  the  game  you 
should  never  miss  an  opportunity  of  seeing 
a  really  first-class  player  exercising  his 
art;  it  will  do  you  far  more  good  than  a 
thousand  verbal  lessons. 

And  then,  when  you  have  learned  to  use 
your  shoulders  in  the  right  way,  and  find 
that  you  are  really  getting  the  weight  of 


50  Brassey  Play. 

your  body  into  the  stroke,  you  may  be  able 
to  employ  your  wrists.  There  is  a  certain 
snap  of  the  wrists  which  cannot  possibly  be 
described,  but  which  nevertheless  is  the 
secret  of  all  very  long-  driving-.  In  order  to 
bring-  it  into  use,  it  is  necessary  that  the 
muscles  of  the  arm  should  not  be  taut;  and 
that  is  equivalent  to  saying-  that  the  player 
must  be  at  the  very  top  of  his  g-ame.  Con- 
sequently for  all  practical  purposes  the 
wrists  may  be  forg-otten  in  driving-.  When 
the  time  comes  to  use  them,  the  player  will 
be  beyond  the  reach  of  advice. 
Brassey  Play.  The  term  brassey  play  is  g-ener-- 
ally  applied  to  all  the  strokes  made  throug-h 
the  green  with  a  wooden  club.  And  yet  the 
less  the  brassey  is  used  the  better  it  will  be, 
both  for  the  green  and  the  player.  Courses 
are,  or  should  be,  kept  in  such  g-ood  condi- 
tion, at  the  present  time,  that  a  driver  may 
be  used  in  nearly  every  case.  But  many 
players  employ  a  brassey  simply  from 
habit,  or  because  they  desire  to  save  a 
favorite  club.  A  moment's  consideration 
will  suffice  to  show  that  the  brass  on  the 
sole  of  the  club  is  a  certain  handicap  be- 
cause it  alters  the  balance.  Why  not  em- 
ploy the  old  fashioned  spoon?  In  fact,  why 
not  duplicate  your  driver  almost  exactly, 
simply  shortening-  the  shaft  to  some  slig-ht 


Brassey  Play.  51 

extent,  and  perhaps  laying*  back  the  face  a 
very  little?  It  stands  to  reason  that  a  man 
can  play  more  accurately  with  one  club  than 
two,  and  where  he  has  to  employ  two,  they 
should  be  as  nearly  alike  as  possible. 

Of  course,  on  rough  ground,  where  the 
lies  are  hard  and  cuppy,  the  brassey  is 
almost  a  necessity,  for  no  other  club  will 
stand  the  wear  and  tear.  But  for  a  good 
green  it  seems  more  reasonable  to  employ 
either  a  driver  or  club  very  similar  in 
weight  and  lie,  the  only  difference  being  in 
the  shaft,  which  for  playing  through  the 
green  should  be  rather  shorter  and  less 
supple. 

Beyond  this  there  is  very  little  to  say 
about  brassey  play  which  has  not  already 
been  pointed  out  in  discussing  the  drive 
from  the  tee.  Only  one  rule  should  be  in- 
sisted upon:  the  worse  the  lie,  the  more 
easy  should  the  swing  be;  and  particularly 
so  in  playing  a  hanging  ball. 

In  the  latter  case,  remember  to  sole  the 
club  squarely  on  the  ground,  and  not  with 
its  face  upward.  In  other  words,  play  the 
ball  as  if  it  were  not  hanging  at  all,  and  the 
natural  curve  of  flight  will  raise  it  suffi- 
ciently for  all  practical  purposes.  Occa- 
sionally, when  the  ball  is  hanging  and  there 
is  a  steep  face  immediately  in  front,  it  may 


52  Brassey   Play. 

be  necessary  to  aim  to  the  left,  hit  the  ball 
rather  on  the  heel,  and  allow  for  the  curve. 
But  this  is  rather  a  desperate  method.  In 
such  cases  it  is  generally  better  to  discard 
the  wooden  club  and  use  an  iron. 


Driving— Scotch  Style 

MR.   H.   J.  WHIGHAM 
MR.   C.   B.   MACDONALD 
MR.    F.   S.   DOUGLAS 


MR,    H,   J.  WHIGHAM 

ONWENTSIA    CLUB 


54 


65 


57 


58 


6;-! 


(54 


70 


MR.    C.    B.    MACDONALD 

CHICAGO    GOLF    CLUB 


71 


74 


76 


7? 


78 


MR.     F.    S.     DOUGLAS 

FAIKFIELD   COUNTY   GOLF    CLUB 


83 


CHAPTER  III. 

IRON    PLAY. 

approach  shot  in  all  its  various 
1  forms  is  the  most  difficult  and  the 
most  important  part  of  the  game  of  golf,  and 
yet  it  is  the  stroke  which  the  beginner,  as 
a  rule,  practices  least  and  attempts  most 
erroneously. 

There  are  two  reasons  for  his  short- 
comings in  this  respect.  In  the  first  place, 
he  starts  at  the  wrong  end.  Instead  of 
learning  to  play  a  very  short  approach  to 
begin  with,  and  then  going  on  to  extend  the 
capacity  of  his  half  stroke,  he  regards  any 
kind  of  iron  shot  as  a  modification  of  a  full 
drive,  and  so  attempts  to  play  up  to  the 
hole  with  a  flabby  and  half-hearted  full 
swing;  whereas,  if  he  did  but  know  it,  he 
could  cover  the  same  distance  far  more 
easily  with  a  third  of  the  exertion  and  with 
far  greater  accuracy. 

In  the  second  place,  the  tendency  to 
enter  handicap  competitions  at  an  early 
stage  of  his  career  has  the  effect  of  crip- 
pling his  stroke  even  more  in  the  approach 
than  in  the  drive.  He  is  determined  to  get 
to  the  green  somehow  or  other,  and  so  he 

87 


88  The  Choice  of  Club. 

generally  purchases  an  abomination  of  mod- 
ern golf,  known  as  a  lofter,  with  which  he 
certainly  avoids  bunkers,  but  only  at  the 
expense  of  correct  style  and  future  pros- 
pects. 

Two  thing's,  then,  must  be  borne  in 
mind  in  the  beginning-;  The  shorter  your 
swing-,  the  greater  your  accuracy;  and  sec- 
ondly, the  less  your  club  is  lofted  the  stead- 
ier your  game  will  be.  The  reason  for  the 
latter  proposition  is  very  obvious.  With  a 
club  that  is  excessively  laid  back,  the 
slightest  error  in  hitting  the  ball,  either  too 
high  or  too  low,  will  make  an  enormous 
difference  in  the  distance.  With  a  club 
that  is  not  laid  back  so  far,  the  ball  may  be 
hit  high  or  low,  and  travel  almost  the  same 
distance  in  either  case.  It  is  true  that  most 
good  players  use  the  mashie  to  a  large  ex- 
tent, but  you  will  generally  find  that  the 
mashie  which  is  used  by  a  good  approacher 
is  a  very  different  weapon  from  the  shovel- 
faced  lofter  which  is  generally  put  in  the 
hands  of  a  novice. 

And  even  the  mashie  may  well 
ChoiceofCIub.          ,.  ,-1,1,  *  A 

be  discarded  until  the  use  of  the 

light  iron  has  been  thoroughly  acquired. 
It  is  hardly  necessary  to  state  that  it  is  ad- 
visable, as  far  as  possible,  to  employ  only 
one  club  for  all  the  approach  shots  within  a 


The  Choice  of  Club.  89 

hundred  yards  of  the  hole.  Occasionally  a 
steep  bunker  has  to  be  negotiated  when  the 
hole  lies  only  a  few  yards  beyond  it,  and 
then  a  mashie  is  practically  a  necessity  un- 
less you  have  acquired  the  art  of  putting-  a 
strong-  back  spin  upon  the  ball.  But  shots 
of  that  nature  need  not  trouble  the  begin- 
ner very  seriously.  He  may  be  well  con- 
tented if  he  can  learn  in  the  space  of  a  few 
months  to  play  a  g-ood  straightforward  ap- 
proach where  he  can  drop  his  ball  twenty 
yards  short  of  the  hole  and  let  it  roll  the 
rest  of  the  way. 

Let  him  take,  then,  what  is  known  as  a 
lig-ht  or  medium  iron,  a  club  which  is  quite 
sufficiently  laid  back  for  all  practical  pur- 
poses, and  leaving-  the  mashie  severely 
alone,  let  him  devote  himself  for  an  hour  or 
so  each  day  to  playing-  the  approach  shot. 
And  in  order  to  avoid  any  tendency  to 
force  the  stroke,  let  him  beg-in  at  a  dis- 
tance from  the  hole — say  thirty  or  forty 
yards — which  he  can  cover  with  a  very 
small  expenditure  of  force. 
Position.  In  playing-  this  stroke,  the  stand 
should  be  changed  from  that  required  in 
driving.  The  line  of  the  feet  should  be  at  an 
angle  of  nearly  45°  with  the  line  of  the  ball's 
flight,  so  that  the  player  may  face  the  hole; 
and  the  ball  should  be  more  nearly  opposite 


90  Position  and  Grip. 

the  right  foot  than  the  left.  The  player 
must  be  careful,  however,  to  give  his  arms 
perfectly  free  play,  and  on  no  account  must 
the  right  elbow  rest  upon  the  hip. 
The  Hands.  In  gripping-  the  club  the  player 
may  adopt  the  same  position  of  the  hands 
as  in  driving,  but  it  would  be  better  in  play- 
ing so  short  an  approach  as  this,  if  he  would 
relax  the  grip  of  the  left  hand  and  hold  the 
shaft  of  the  club  in  the  fingers  instead  of 
the  palm.  But  if  he  does  so,  he  must  not 
let  the  thumbs  stray  down  the  shaft  of  the 
club,  nor  must  he  hold  the  shaft  loosely 
with  either  hand.  If  he  does  so,  he  will 
find  that  the  head  of  the  club  is  apt  to  turn 
ever  so  little  as  the  ball  is  struck,  and  the 
result  is  very  disastrous. 

As  for  the  stroke  itself,  disabuse  your 
mind  entirely  of  the  idea  that  you  are  play- 
ing a  wrist  shot.  There  never  was  a  more 
misleading  term  than  that  which  is  invaria- 
bly applied  to  every  shot  in  golf  which  does 
not  necessitate  a  full  swing.  There  are 
occasions,  of  course,  where  a  very  delicate 
lofting  stroke  has  to  be  played,  and  an  ex- 
pert may  in  such  cases  play  entirely  with 
his  wrists.  But  as  a  general  rule,  even  a 
short  approach  of  thirty-five  yards  employs 
the  forearm,  and  even  to  a  certain  extent 


POSITION  OF  THE  HANDS  FOR  THE  SHORT  APPROACH 

91 


92  Use  of  the  Arms. 

the  shoulder.  The  wrist  in  reality  enters 
very  little  into  the  stroke. 

Nothing-  can  be  more  important  than  to 
recognize  this  truth,  for  the  chief  difficulty 
which  most  young1  players  experience  in 
learning-  to  approach  arises  from  the  fact 
that  they  imag-ine  that  they  must  swing-  with 
their  wrists  only,  which  is  in  itself  a  phys- 
ical impossibility.  The  stroke  must,  in 
reality,  be  played  with  the  left  arm  almost 
straig-ht.  As  the  club  goes  back  the  right 
elbow  is  bent  and  the  right  wrist  moves 
perceptibly.  The  head  of  the  club  should 
travel  very  near  the  ground,  and  in  a 
straight  line  backward.  In  coming  forward 
the  left  arm  is  still  kept  very  nearly  straight 
(but  not  rigid),  and  after  the  ball  is  struck 
the  right  arm  straightens  out  to  the  finish 
until  the  player  is  pointing  with  arms  and 
club  stretched  out  toward  the  hole. 

Examine  very  carefully  the  illustrations 
of  the  approach  shot  at  forty  yards,  and  you 
will  see  that,  in  the  first  place,  the  arms  are 
free  of  contact  with  the  body;  secondly,  the 
wrists  change  their  position  very  slightly 
during  the  stroke;  thirdly,  the  arms  are 
employed  right  up  to  the  shoulder;  and 
fourthly,  the  hands  travel  a  long  way  after 
the  ball. 


Use  of  the  Arms.  93 

Observe,  on  the  other  hand,  the  wrist 
shot  as  it  is  played  by  nearly  every  begin- 
ner, and  you  will  see  that  the  arms  do  not 
work  freely  because  they  are  not  supposed 
to  enter  into  the  stroke,  the  wrists  are  bent 
backward  and  forward,  and  the  hands  are 
held  back  at  the  finish  instead  of  being 
allowed  to  follow  the  flight  of  the  ball.  It  is 
the  left  arm  especially  that  is  cramped  by 
this  attempt  to  play  with  the  wrists.  Re- 
member, then,  particularly  to  let  the  left 
arm  go  out  after  hitting  the  ball,  otherwise 
the  head  of  the  iron  is  brought  round  to  the 
left  instead  of  following  through. 

If  you  play  the  stroke  in  the  proper  way 
you  will  have  no  difficulty  whatever  in  rais- 
ing the  ball  from  the  ground.  Therefore 
it  is  quite  unnecessary  to  use  a  lofter,  or 
even  a  mashie,  unless  you  are  compelled, 
on  account  of  the  proximity  of  a  bunker,  to 
drop  the  ball  very  dead.  Above  all,  do  not 
lay  the  face  of  your  iron  back  in  addressing 
the  ball,  thinking  thereby  to  lift  it  the  more 
easily.  If  you  do,  you  will  only  succeed  in 
hitting  it  with  the  edge,  and  the  effect  will 
be  most  unwelcome.  Sole  your  club  square- 
ly on  the  ground,  and  the  force  of  impact 
will  do  the  rest,  granted  that  the  ball  is 
struck  in  the  manner  already  recommended. 


Approach  at  Fifty  Yards 

I.     At  the  Top  of  the  Swing 
II.     Follow   Through 
III.      The  Finish 


II 


Ill 


97 


98  Longer  Approaches. 

Longer  When  you  have  learned  to  play 

Approaches.  a  thirty  or  forty-yard  approach 
with  fair  accuracy,  you  may  begin  to  move 
farther  away  from  the  hole;  but  do  not 
lengthen  your  swing  more  than  is  abso- 
lutely necessary.  When  you  have  once 
begun  to  hit  the  ball  clean  with  the  arm 
stroke,  you  will  be  astonished  to  find  how 
far  the  ball  will  travel  with  a  very  small  ex- 
penditure of  force.  Circumstances  of  wind 
and  weather  will  naturally  be  taken  into 
consideration;  but  generally  speaking, when 
you  find  yourself  between  seventy  and 
eighty  yards  from  the  hole  you  will  have  to 
alter  your  grip.  Instead  of  holding  the  club 
in  the  fingers  of  both  hands,  you  will  have 
to  go  back  to  the  original  method  employed 
in  driving.  But  this  will  in  no  way  change 
the  stroke  itself.  The  only  difference  be- 
tween playing  a  forty-yard  stroke  and  one 
of  eighty  yards,  is  that  the  swing  is  rather 
longer  in  the  latter  case.  One  other  point 
may  be  observed  as  the  approach  grows 
longer.  So  far  no  mention  has  been  made 
of  the  weight  of  the  body,  because  in  the 
shorter  strokes  the  body  is  hardly  employed 
at  all.  Gradually,  however,  as  greater  dis- 
tance has  to  be  covered,  the  weight  of  the 
body  begins  to  be  called  into  use.  There  is 
very  little  difference  in  the  length  of  the 


The  Weight  of  the  Body.         99 

swing-,  and  the  position  of  the  feet  is  only 
slightly  modified,  the  left  foot  coming-  for- 
ward a  little,  and  the  right  moving  back. 
But  as  greater  force  is  required,  the  body 
has  to  be  employed  ;  that  is  to  say,  the 
weight  is  thrown  first  on  the  right  leg  as 
club  goes  back,  and  then  on  the  left  as  it 
comes  forward.  This  is  the  whole  secret 
of  obtaining  distance  with  the  half  shot,  and 
sinceprecisely  the  same  means  are  employed 
in  driving,  the  young  player  ought  not  by 
this  time  to  find  the  difficulty  insuperable. 

Of  course  it  sounds  easy  enough  until 
an  experiment  is  made,  and  then  the  weight 
of  the  body  is  found  to  be  very  unmanage- 
able. Either  there  is  a  tendency  to  sway 
the  whole  frame  backward  and  forward, 
which  is  entirely  wrong,  because  it  makes 
accuracy  impossible,  or  else  the  weight  of 
the  body  is  thrown  into  the  forward  stroke 
too  soon,  with  the  result  that  the  club  comes 
down  behind  the  ball,  with  much  detriment 
to  the  turf. 

You  must  change  your  center  of  gravity 
from  right  to  left  in  exact  accordance  with 
the  forward  movement  of  the  club,  so  that 
there  is  no  sledge  hammering  or  jerkiness 
in  the  stroke.  And  this  is  the  most  diffi- 
cult part  of  the  whole  matter.  In  fact,  you 
cannot  attain  the  proper  rhythmical  move- 


ioo       The  Weight  of  the  Body. 

ment  if  you  are  conscious  that  you  are 
throwing-  your  whole  weig-ht  at  the  ball. 
There  is  only  one  thing-  to  be  done,  and  that 
is  to  think  more  of  the  finish  of  the  stroke 
than  anything-  else.  Remember  that  hands, 
arms,  shoulders  and  everything-  except  the 
toes  of  your  rig-ht  foot  must  be  sent  after 
the  ball  and  continue  to  point  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  hole  long-  after  the  ball  has  left 
the  club.  If  you  really  succeed  in  doing- 
this,  the  weig-ht  of  the  body  is  naturally 
moved  from  right  to  left  without  your  fore- 
knowledg-e. 


Approach  at  One  Hundred  Yards 

I.  Position 

II.  At  the  Top  of  the  Swing 

III.  Coming  Down 

IV.  Coming  Down 
V.  Follow   Through 

VI.  The  Finish 


101 


II 


102 


Ill 


103 


IV 


104 


105 


VI 


106 


The  Three-Quarters  Shot.       107 

The  Three-  This  half  stroke  will  take  you 

Quarters  back  to  a  hundred  yards  from 
Shot.  the  hole  with  ease,  and  then  you 

will  find  yourself  in  a  dilemma.  A  full  shot 
will  take  you  too  far,  and  a  half  shot  will 
hardly  reach  the  green.  The  books  advise 
you  to  play  what  is  called  the  three-quar- 
ters shot.  As  every  one  who  plays  golf  at 
all  knows,  this  is  quite  the  most  dangerous 
stroke  in  the  game.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  stroke 
which  most  beginners  use  for  every  kind  of 
approach  —  that  is  to  say,  they  take  a  full 
swing-  and  spare  their  strength. 

There  is,  however,  one  way  of  getting 
out  of  the  difficulty.  At  a  distance  of  a 
hundred  and  twenty  yards,  let  us  say,  you 
find  that  a  full  shot  with  your  light  iron  will 
go  rather  too  far,  and  the  half  shot  which 
you  have  been  practicing-  will  not  go  far 
enough.  You  still  may  have  recourse  to 
your  driving-  iron,  which  with  the  same  half 
shot  will  send  the  ball  the  whole  distance 
required,  because  it  is  straighter  in  the  face, 
and  therefore  causes  the  ball  to  run  farther 
after  alig-hting-.  But  then  another  obstacle 
may  arise:  there  may  be  a  bunker  in  front 
of  the  whole,  so  that  it  is  impossible  to  play 
a  running-  shot.  In  that  case  play  a  three- 
quarters  shot  with  your  lig-ht  iron.  But 
don't  forget  that  even  so,  the  follow  through 


io8       The  Three-Quarters  Shot. 

is  the  most  important  part  of  the  stroke. 
The  reason  that  the  three-quarters  shot  is 
so  often  a  failure  is  simply  this :  The  player 
begins  by  taking-  a  full  shot,  and  tries  to 
shorten  the  distance  by  checking-  his  swing- 
at  the  moment  of  impact.  In  other  words, 
he  does  not  carry  his  club  throug-h  to  the 
finish.  No  stroke  of  that  kind  can  ever  be 
used  with  safety,  although  it  may  occasion- 
ally "come  off,"  more  by  luck  than  g-ood 
g-uidance.  Ag-ain,  some  of  the  books  reg-ard 
as  the  distinguishing-  feature  of  the  three- 
quarters  shot  that  the  arms  and  shoulders 
are  used  as  in  the  drive,  but  the  weig-ht  of 
the  body  is  not  called  into  play.  Now,  this 
I  conceive  to  be  entirely  misleading-.  I  have 
already  pointed  out  that  except  in  the  very 
short  approaches  the  transference  of  the 
center  of  gravity  from  right  to  left  is  as 
important  as  in  driving-.  And  no  full  shot 
can  be  played  with  safety,  simply  by  using- 
the  arms  alone.  In  attempting-  the  three- 
quarters  shot  you  should  stand  very  much 
as  you  do  in  driving-,  except  that  the  rig-ht 
foot  may  be  rather  more  advanced,  and  the 
ball  may  be  moved  a  very  little  farther 
back.  The  club  should  then  be  swung-  back, 
as  in  driving-,  except  that  the  hands  should 
not  rise  above  the  line  of  the  shoulder;  and 
since  the  object  is  to  loft  the  ball,  the  arc 


The  Three-Quarters  Shot.       109 

described  by  the  head  of  the  club  should  be 
part  of  a  smaller  circle  than  that  described 
by  the  head  of  the  club  in  playing-  the  half 
shot;  or,  to  put  it  more  simply,  the  head  in 
going  back  should  not  travel  so  close  to  the 
ground. 

Then  it  may  be  well  to  pause  for  the 
fraction  of  a  second  at  the  top  of  the  swing- 
in  order  to  avoid  undue  haste,  to  which  one 
is  particularly  liable  in  this  shot.  Finally, 
let  the  follow  throug-h  be  as  complete  as 
ever,  except  that  the  hands  and  club  should 
not  travel  on  quite  so  low  a  line  as  in  play- 
ing- the  half  shot.  In  other  words,  the  arc 
described  by  the  club  after  the  ball  is  struck 
should  correspond  to  the  arc  described  in 
the  backward  swing-. 


The  Three-Quarters   Shot 

I.  Position 

II.  At  the   Top  of  the  Swing 

III.  Follow   Through 

IV.  Follow   Through 
V.  The  Finish 


no 


Ill 


II 


112 


Ill 


113 


IV 


114 


115 


ii6  Back  Spin  and  Cut. 

The  Refine-  If  tne  young  player  has  learned 
ments  of  Iron  to  play  the  half  stroke  in  the 
Play-  manner  described,  and  has  also 

mastered  the  three-quarters  shot  so  that 
he  is  fairly  certain  of  the  results,  he  will 
still  find  that  there  are  difficulties  to  be 
overcome.  But  he  need  not  trouble  himself 
very  much  about  them  until  he  has  acquired 
accuracy  in  the  straightforward  part  of  the 
short  game.  Not  until  then  should  he  en- 
deavor to  play  the  high  or  lofting-  stroke  or 
struggle  with  the  vagaries  of  back  spin. 
Still,  every  golfer  ought  to  be  fully  equipped 
in  every  point,  and  he  ought  to  know  how  to 
deal  with  various  courses  requiring-  various 
styles  of  play. 

Back  Spin  and  I  have  hardly  seen  a  course 
the  Cut  in  America  where  back  spin  is 

a  positive  necessity.  On  the 
straightforward  courses  like  that  of  the 
Chicago  Golf  Club  it  is  possible  to  approach 
almost  every  hole  with  an  ordinary  light 
iron,  because  the  greens  are  large  enough 
and  the  bunkers  at  a  sufficient  distance 
from  the  hole  to  permit  a  considerable  run 
after  the  ball  has  landed.  There  are  other 
courses  where  the  greens  are  small  and  ab- 
normally keen,  in  which  case  no  sleight  of 
hand  will  enable  a  player  to  pitch  his  ball  on 
to  the  green  and  keep  it  there.  In  time, 


The  Cut  Stroke.  117 

however,  seaside  courses  will  be  laid  out  in 
this  country,  similar  to  the  great  links  in 
England  and  Scotland,  where  the  greens 
though  large  are  excessively  keen  com- 
pared to  most  of  our  inland  putting  greens, 
and  where  the  hole  is  protected  by  bunkers 
in  such  a  way  that  it  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  play  many  of  the  approach  shots  with  a 
spin  in  order  to  stop  the  ball  on  the  putting 
green.  Needless  to  say,  in  golf,  as  in  almost 
every  other  game,  no  cut  should  be  adminis- 
tered to  the  ball  unless  it  is  unavoidable. 
One's  object,  generally  speaking,  is  to  make 
the  ball  travel  as  far  as  possible,  and  not  to 
check  its  movements;  moreover,  a  ball  that 
is  struck  clean  without  any  cut  will  roll 
more  truly  after  landing  than  a  ball  which 
is  played  with  a  spin  or  from  a  very  lofted 
club.  Nevertheless,  the  cut  stroke  in  golf 
is  just  as  much  part  of  the  game  as  it  is  in 
billiards,  and  for  that  reason  it  is  a  pity 
that  it  is  not  oftener  called  into  play  by  the 
courses  which  at  present  exist  in  America. 
In  fact,  it  is  really  the  mastery  of  this  stroke 
which  creates  the  distinction  between  the 
really  first-class  golfer  and  the  average 
scratch  man. 

Fortunately  it  is  not  hard  to  explain  the 
manner  of  playing  the  shot,  although  it  is 


n8  The  Cut  Stroke. 

exceedingly  difficult  to  acquire  any  degree 
of  certainty  in  playing-  it. 

In  the  ordinary  approach  shot  the  player 
is  recommended  to  keep  the  head  of  the 
club  traveling-  in  the  line  of  the  ball's  flig-ht, 
both  in  the  backward  and  the  forward 
swing.  He  is  also  advised  to  draw  the  club 
back  as  near  the  ground  as  possible. 

In  playing  the  cut  stroke  he  must  neglect 
both  these  commandments.  The  club  must 
be  drawn  across  the  intended  line  of  flight, 
starting  away  from  the  body  and  coming 
toward  it,  as  the  ball  is  hit;  moreover,  the 
hands  must  be  raised  in  going  back  and 
after  the  ball  is  struck,  so  that  the  swing  is 
more  vertical  than  horizontal,  to  use  an  un- 
mathematical,  but  easily  comprehensible, 
expression.  Strike  the  ball,  if  possible, 
nearer  the  heel  than  the  center  of  the  club, 
and  aim  slightly  to  the  left  of  the  hole. 
Also,  in  addressing  the  ball,  face  the  hole 
more  squarely  even  than  in  the  ordinary 
short  approach.  Go  out  and  practice  this 
stroke,  and,  after  half  an  hour,  you  will 
probably  despair  of  ever  being  able  to  play 
it  successfully.  There  is  nothing  that  I 
can  do  for  you  except  to  tell  you  to  go  on 
practicing.  There  is  no  hidden  mystery 
in  the  matter,  and  no  easy  method  of  ac- 
quiring the  habit.  If  you  cannot  become 


The  Cut  Stroke.  11$ 

fairly  proficient  in  the  shot,  you  are  not 
skillful  enoug-h  to  reach  the  summit  of  am- 
bition, and  that  is  an  end  of  it.  Moreover, 
if  you  are  unable  to  play  the  stroke  with  a 
very  reasonable  degree  of  certainty,  you 
had  better  discard  it  altogether  and  use 
some  other  means  of  staying-  near  the  hole 
when  the  green  is  very  fast.  You  may  either 
use  a  very  lofted  club  —  but  that,  too,  is  un- 
certain— or  you  may  harden  your  heart  and 
play  simply  to  keep  out  of  difficulties  by 
using-  the  ordinary  method  of  approach  and 
allowing  your  ball  to  run  past  the  hole.  If 
there  is  a  bunker  on  the  other  side  as  well, 
you  are  indeed  in  a  hard  position ;  but,  gen- 
erally speaking-,  there  is  some  means  of 
safety  if  sufficient  ing-enuity  is  broug-ht  to 
bear  on  the  situation. 


The   Cut   Stroke 

I.  At  the   7^op  of  the  Swing 

II.  At  the   7^op  of  the  Swing,  Front  View 

III.  The  Finish 


120 


121 


II 


122 


Ill 


123 


124  Running  Up. 

Running  Up.  There  is  another  kind  of  ap- 
proach which  is  used  with  great  effect  on 
greens  like  St.  Andrews  in  Scotland,  and 
that  is  the  running--up  shot  played  either 
with  the  cleek  or  the  wooden  putter.  This 
method  of  approaching-  the  hole  is  never  of 
much  service  on  inland  courses,  where  the 
grass  is  not  of  a  fine  enoug-h  nature  to  allow 
the  ball  to  travel  smoothly  over  it  for  any 
distance.  But  on  seaside  courses  it  is  an 
invaluable  part  of  the  g-olfer's  equipment, 
for  it  enables  him  very  often  to  keep  his 
ball  near  the  hole  when  the  keenness  of  the 
greens  would  make  a  lofted  shot  very  dan- 
g-erous;  it  is  also  particularly  useful  on 
windy  days  when  it  is  risky  to  let  your  ball 
rise  into  the  air.  Here,  ag-ain,  the  stroke 
is  very  simple,  althoug-h  hard  to  acquire. 
Nothing-  but  practice  will  give  you  the  fac- 
ulty of  judging-  the  streng-th,  and  that  is 
the  all-important  part.  For  the  rest,  it  is 
merely  necessary  to  hit  the  ball  clean,  allow- 
ing-, of  course,  for  any  slope  in  the  ground, 
but  remembering-  that  a  ball  which  is  struck 
true  with  a  wooden  putter  will  keep  its  line 
marvelously  well  over  any  little  roug-hness 
or  undulation.  That  is  why  it  is  often  ad- 
visable to  use  the  wooden  putter,  or  the  Mus- 
selburg-h  iron,  as  it  used  to  be  called  rather 
contemptuously,  at  any  distance  up  to  forty 


The  Full  Iron  Shot.  125 

yards  or  so  from  the  hole,  where  there  are 
a  number  of  small  hillocks  intervening- 
which  are  sure  to  turn  a  lofted  shot  off  the 
line,  but  hardly  affect  a  truly  hit  put.  The 
wooden  putter  is  more  effective  for  this 
stroke  than  a  cleek,  because  it  is  less  likely 
to  put  any  spin  on  the  ball.  But  a  cleek 
may  be  used  in  the  same  way  where  the  lie 
does  not  warrant  the  use  of  the  wooden 
club. 

The  Full  Iron  So  far  I  have  not  mentioned 
Shot.  the  full  shot  with  the  iron  or 

cleek,  because,  properly  speaking-,  that 
comes  under  the  head  of  driving-.  The  only 
thing-  to  remember  in  using- the  iron  club  in 
distinction  from  the  ordinary  driver  is  that 
a  rather  shorter  swing-  is  advisable.  A 
cleek  or  iron  is  naturally  a  more  clumsy 
weapon  than  the  driver,  and  therefore  the 
tendency  to  press  or  to  leng-then  the  swing- 
is  more  likely  to  have  a  disastrous  effect. 
Do  not  forg-et,  then,  that  overswing-ing-  is 
particularly  dang-erous  with  an  iron  club, 
and  pay  special  attention  to  the  finish  of  the 
stroke. 

One  other  point  is  worth  mentioning-: 
It  is  constantly  observed  that  the  best 
players  are  apt  to  take  a  good  deal  of  turf 
with  their  iron  shots,  and  the  beginner 


126  The  Full  Iron  Shot. 

generally  desires  an  explanation  of  this 
seeming-  misdemeanor. 

Of  course,  when  the  ball  is  lying-  in  a 
hard  cup  it  is  impossible  not  to  take  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  the  earth  with  the  ball.  But 
even  with  a  g-ood  lie  you  may  often  see  an 
expert  cut  up  a  reg-ular  blanket  of  turf. 

First  of  all,  then,  do  not  try  to  imitate 
him  until  you  understand  why  and  how  it  is 
done.  If  you  watch  him  closely  you  will 
see  that  the  turf  is  cut  after  the  ball  is 
struck,  and  not  before ;  and  if  you  ask  him  to 
explain  it  he  will  tell  you,  probably,  that  he 
was  not  conscious  before  the  shot  of  any 
intention  in  the  matter.  The  reason  is 
that  in  playing-  many  long-  approaches  it  is 
necessary  to  land  on  the  green  without  run- 
ning- very  far,  and  in  order  to  achieve  the 
combination  it  is  necessary  to  play  a  chop 
stroke;  not,  be  it  understood,  the  kind  of 
stroke  described  above  as  the  cut  shot,  for 
there  the  club  is  drawn  across  the  line  of 
flight,  and  the  stroke  is  only  advisable  in 
playing-  with  a  half  swing-.  Here  the  club 
is  swung-  in  the  ordinary  way,  as  in  driving-, 
except  that  the  motion  is  rather  more  verti- 
cal than  usual,  and  the  follow  throug-h  is 
checked  by  contact  with  the  ground.  The 
advantag-es  of  the  stroke  are  two-fold:  In 
the  first  place,  you  can  check  the  roll  on  the 


Summary.  127 

ball  to  a  certain  extent  without  playing 
across  the  line  of  flight,  which  is  particu- 
larly difficult  when  a  full  swing-  is  employed, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  direction  is  more 
certain;  secondly,  you  not  only  do  not 
spoil  the  carrying  power  of  the  stroke,  but 
you  actually  impart  an  extra  strength  by 
the  force  of  impact  with  the  ground,  and  so 
you  succeed  in  playing  a  shot  which  is 
often  exceedingly  useful;  that  is,  one  with  a 
long  straight  carry  and  a  short  roll. 

Do  not,  however,  attempt  this  stroke  in 
soft  ground,  and  do  not  consciously  attempt 
to  cut  the  turf,  for  in  that  case  you  will 
probably  do  it  before  you  hit  the  ball,  with 
quite  the  wrong  result. 

Summary.  To  sum  up,  then :  In  learning 
to  approach  select  an  ordinary  light  iron, 
and  use  that  alone.  Begin  with  short  ap- 
proaches and  a  very  short  swing,  and  grad- 
ually lengthen  the  stroke  as  it  becomes  nec- 
essary to  cover  more  distance.  Do  not 
attempt  a  three-quarters  shot  until  you  are 
proficient  in  your  half  strokes. 

Always  remember  that  the  shorter  the 
swing  the  greater  the  accuracy;  and  the 
more  uniform  the  style  of  your  clubs,  the 
less  room  is  there  for  error. 

Be  particularly  careful  not  to  force,  and 
never  take  your  eye  off  the  ball  until  the 


128  Summary. 

stroke  is  finished,  for  the  shorter  the  stroke 
the  more  apt  are  you  to  look  at  the  hole  in- 
stead of  the  ball. 

Above  all,  finish  your  stroke  out  to  the 
end.  The  follow  throug-h  is  of  supreme 
importance  in  approaching-.  When  you 
have  learned  to  play  the  straig-htforward 
approach — and  not  until  then — you  may  be- 
gin to  practice  the  cut  stroke,  the  hig-h  loft- 
ing- stroke  and  the  running--up  g-ame. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PUTTING. 

VERY  sort  of  instrument,  from  a  re- 
spectable  wooden  putter  to  a  croquet 
mallet  or  a  billiard  cue,  has  been  used,  and 
used  successfully,  on  the  putting*  green. 
No  style  or  position  is  left  untried,  no  mus- 
cle unturned  which  may  help  the  ball  to  its 
much  coveted  resting-  place.  Some  grip 
the  shaft  at  the  top,  some  at  the  bottom; 
some  stand  severely  erect  in  the  attitude  of 
command,  some  crouch  low  over  the  recal- 
citrant g-utta  percha,  that  they  may  the  bet- 
ter coax  or  control  its  movements.  One 
eminent  player  uses  his  cleek  as  if  it  were 
an  eg-g-spoon,  another  astonishes  his  part- 
ner in  a  foursome  by  putting-  in  neglige 
fashion  with  one  hand.  Every  way  is  rig-ht 
which  fulfills  the  purpose  in  view,  and'each 
individual  is  convinced  that  his  style  is  the 
best. 

It  is  rather  rash,  then,  to  offer  advice 
upon  a  subject  which  admits  of  so  much  di- 
versity of  opinion.  Th  e  novice  will  listen  to 
the  expert  when  he  lectures  upon  driving- 


130  Position. 

or  approaching,  for  there  his  superiority 
grants  him  a  privilege  to  preach.  But 
when  it  comes  to  putting,  the  part  of  the 
game  which  to  the  outsider  is  not  only  very 
dull,  but  absurdly  easy,  and  when  the 
preacher  misses  in  practice  an  eighteen- 
inch  put  which  any  child  could  kick  into  the 
hole,  the  beginner  is  very  apt  to  reserve 
his  judgment  and  cleave  to  his  own  self- 
cultivated  style. 

Still,  even  in  putting  there  is  a  right  and 
a  wrong  way.  Take  the  test  of  experience, 
and  you  will  find  that  in  the  long  run  the 
man  who  puts  in  the  approved  method 
wins  the  day.  The  man  who  handles  his 
putter  as  he  would  a  spade  may  do  won- 
ders on  ordinary  occasions  when  nothing 
depends  upon  the  result;  he  is  hopeless  as 
soon  as  the  strain  begins  to  tell. 
Position.  Begin,  then,  by  standing  just  as 
you  have  been  instructed  to  do  in  playing 
a  short  wrist  shot;  that  is,  with  the  line 
of  your  feet  at  an  angle  of  45°  with  the  line 
of  the  hole.  Place  the  ball  a  little  in  front 
of  your  right  foot;  in  fact,  the  feet  being 
closer  than  in  driving,  the  ball  should  be 
almost  as  near  one  as  the  other. 
The  Hands.  The  hands  should  grasp  the 
shaft  just  as  they  do  in  the  short  approach; 
the  club  should  be  held  in  the  fingers  of 


The   Hands.  131 

each  hand,  and  the  hands  should  be  as  close 
tog-ether  as  possible.  Some  of  the  best 
players,  both  in  putting-  and  approaching-, 
allow  the  right  to  overlap  the  left,  in  order 
to  have  but  one  fulcrum.  This  method  is 
not  recommended  to  the  average  player, 
because  it  requires  a  delicacy  and  firmness 
combined,  which  only  comes  with  long 
practice.  Be  careful  not  to  grip  the  club 
too  loosely,  nor  to  allow  the  thumbs  or  fore- 
fingers to  stray  down  the  shaft.  In  putting, 
as  in  driving,  there  comes  a  time  when  you 
are  totally  unconscious  of  any  grip  on  the 
club  at  all;  the  driver  or  putter  becomes 
part  of  the  player,  just  as  a  good  rider 
seems  to  be  one  with  his  horse.  For  the 
ordinary  mortal,  however,  the  club  is  some- 
thing extraneous  and  apart,  and  the  method 
of  grasping  it  is  a  matter  of  considerable 
importance. 

The  most  common  fault  in  putting  comes 
from  slackness.  Whenever  your  ball  does 
not  travel  straight  from  the  club,  and  es- 
pecially when  you  find  yourself  varying 
greatly  in  strength,  look  to  your  hands  — 
you  are  probably  holding  too  loosely,  so 
that  the  head  of  the  club  turns  ever  so 
slightly  as  the  ball  is  struck,  which  accounts 
for  vagaries  in  strength  and  direction. 
Of  course  you  must  not  hold  your  club 


132  The  Choice  of  Club. 

as  in  a  vise,  nor  must  you  allow  either 
hand  to  dominate  the  other.  The  grip 
should  be  even  with  both  hands — just  tight 
enoug-h  to  obviate  any  turning-  of  the  head, 
and  not  so  tig-ht  as  to  stop  the  circulation 
or  freeze  the  muscles.  The  position  of  the 
feet  and  hands  should  not  be  varied  with 
the  club,  but  in  other  respects  there  are  a 
few  differences  in  attitude,  according-  to 
the  kind  of  putter  you  employ. 
The  Choice  of  You  may  put  with  a  cleek,  a 
Club.  putting-  cleek,  an  iron  putter  or 

a  wooden  putter.  By  a  cleek  I  mean  any 
weapon  of  the  driving-  iron  tribe  which  you 
may  happen  to  fancy.  It  may  be  a  straight- 
faced  driving-  iron,  a  driving-  mashie  or  a 
common  cleek.  What  differentiates  it  from 
a  putting-  cleek  is  that  it  has  the  ordinary 
driving-  shaft,  and  the  ang-le  of  the  head  and 
the  shaft  is  more  obtuse.  The  putter  of 
every  description  is  an  uprig-ht  club,  re- 
quiring- rather  a  different  attitude  of  body. 
It  may  sound  rather  an  absurd  statement, 
but  g-eneral  practice,  I  believe,  will  bear  me 
out,  when  I  maintain  that  if  you  are  going 
to  use  the  iron  club  at  all  for  putting-,  the 
ordinary  driving-  cleek  is  a  better  weapon 
than  the  iron  putter,  which  is  made  es- 
pecially for  the  purpose. 


Advantage  of  the  Cleek.          133 

The  Advantage  In  the  first  place,  the  iron  put- 
of  the  Cleek.  ter,  pure  and  simple,  is  useless 
on  greens  that  are  at  all  rough  and  heavy, 
because  it  keeps  the  ball  closer  to  the 
ground  than  any  other  club.  Secondly,  the 
face  is  so  smooth  and  straight  that,  unless 
the  stroke  is  very  accurate,  the  ball  is  apt 
to  glide  from  it  to  right  or  left.  Thirdly, 
both  the  head  and  the  shaft  are  dead;  they 
give  no  life  to  the  ball,  as  the  wooden  putter 
does.  You  will  observe  that  these  objec- 
tions would  have  no  weight  if  you  were 
playing-  on  a  billiard  table;  but  putting- 
greens  are  not  billiard  tables.  Even  the 
best  of  them  have  their  rough  or  grassy 
spots,  and  therefore  the  club  that  does  not 
keep  the  ball  too  close  to  the  ground  is  pref- 
erable. Also,  if  you  are  to  use  an  iron  club 
at  all,  there  should  be  that  driving  power 
which,  in  the  wooden  putter,  is  supplied  by 
the  material  from  which  the  head  is  made. 

But  there  is  yet  another  reason  for  the 
use  of  the  ordinary  cleek,  which  I  have  never 
seen  advanced  in  any  book  on  the  subject. 
In  the  second  chapter  I  recommended  a 
certain  uniformity  of  weight  and  lie  for  all 
the  wooden  driving  clubs.  For  a  similar 
reason  I  believe  that  the  more  your  putter 
resembles  your  light  iron  in  weight  and  lie, 
the  more  regular  will  be  your  short  game. 


134  The  Stroke. 

The  Stroke.  In  putting*  you  should  begin,  as 
in  approaching-,  about  thirty  yards  from 
the  hole,  and  work  in  the  opposite  direction. 
Saving-  the  fact  that  in  one  case  you  are 
playing-  with  a  cleek,  and  in  the  other  with 
an  iron,  the  stroke  should  be  almost  identi- 
cal. The  club  should  be  drawn  back  close 
to  the  ground  and  in  a  straig-ht  line;  the 
backward  movement  —  it  can  hardly  be 
called  a  swing-  any  long-er  —  should  be  delib- 
erate, but  not  too  long-.  Most  beginners 
are  inclined  to  draw  the  club  too  far  back, 
both  in  putting-  and  approaching-.  The  left 
wrist  should  bend  very  little,  but  both  the 
rig-ht  wrist  and  elbow  should  be  broug-ht 
into  use.  In  following  the  stroke  throug-h, 
the  hands  should  be  broug-ht  well  forward, 
and  the  head  of  the  club  should  point  to- 
ward the  hole. 

Practice  this  stroke  from  the  extreme 
edg-e  of  the  putting-  green,  and  then  as  you 
come  nearer  the  hole  you  will  find  that  there 
is  only  a  difference  of  degree  between  play- 
ing- an  approach  of  seventy  yards  and  neg-o- 
tiating-  a  put  of  seven  feet.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  add  that  the  eye  must  be  kept 
fixed  upon  the  ball,  especially  as  you  g-et 
nearer  the  hole.  When  you  have  a  bad 
attack  of  inaccuracy  in  your  short  puts,  as 
every  g-olf  er  has  from  time  to  time,  you  will 


136  The  Stroke. 

generally  find  that  you  are  looking  at  the 
hole  instead  of  the  ball.  The  mistake  is 
peculiarly  apt  to  happen  in  playing-  your 
short  puts,  because  the  hole  is  so  close  that 
it  catches  your  eye  unawares.  Look  hard 
at  your  ball,  then,  and  make  up  your  mind 
to  hit  it  clean.  If  you  succeed  you  will  very 
seldom  miss  the  hole  at  short  range. 

Only  one  thing  more:  In  putting  with  a 
cleek  it  is  advisable  to  strike  the  ball  rather 
toward  the  heel  of  the  club,  because  the 
balance  is  in  that  direction.  With  a  wooden 
putter  strike  rather  nearer  the  toe  than  the 
heel. 

If  you  use  your  cleek  for  putting  in  the 
manner  suggested,  you  will  observe  that 
there  is  nothing  of  the  pendulum  motion 
which  is  often  recommended  in  the  books. 
The  club  does  not  swing  evenly  backward 
and  forward  in  front  of  the  body,  but  is 
pushed,  as  it  were,  away  from  the  body 
toward  the  hole.  This  style  of  putting  is 
really  more  like  the  forward  stroke  in 
cricket  than  anything  else;  and  just  as  in 
cricket  you  keep  the  left  arm  and  shoulder 
forward  to  avoid  a  pull,  so  in  putting  you 
should,  if  anything,  bend  your  left  elbow  a 
little  in  dachshund  fashion,  and  thus  keep 
the  left  shoulder  well  over  the  ball.  And 


The  Iron  Putter.  137 

whatever  else  you  do,  do  not  rest  the  right 
elbow  on  the  hip.  Your  arms  should  work 
perfectly  freely  from  the  shoulders,  and  the 
body  should  in  no  way  enter  into  the  stroke ; 
if  you  allow  yourself  to  come  forward  at  all 
except  with  your  arms,  in  striking  the  ball, 
the  results  will  be  most  disastrous.  And 
since  it  is  obvious  that  the  body  must  move 
if  the  elbow  is  resting  on  the  hip,  you  must 
discard  that  method  of  play  at  all  risks.  I 
cannot  conceive  where  it  first  originated. 
There  is  hardly  a  single  good  putter  among 
all  the  first-class  players  in  Great  Britain 
who  does  not  keep  his  arms  entirely  free ; 
and  yet  I  have  seen  numberless  beginners 
in  this  country  who  have  been  told  to  put  in 
that  way  by  their  professional  advisers. 
The  Iron  In  using  a  putting  cleek  or  an 

Pulter.  iron  putter  or  a  wooden  putter, 

it  is  necessary  to  stand  more  erect  because 
the  club  itself  is  more  upright;  therefore 
you  must  be  closer  to  your  ball,  and  your 
feet  should  be  less  far  apart. 

The  best  way  of  using  any  of  these 
three  weapons  is  rather  different  from  the 
method  recommended  above.  Your  regular 
putter  is  a  different  club  entirely  from  an 
iron  or  a  cleek,  and  so  you  have  to  learn 
what  is  practically  a  new  stroke. 


POSITION    FOR  THE   IRON   PUTTER 


AFTER   THE   STROKE 
139 


140          The  Pendulum  Stroke. 

The  The  best  putters  who  use  the 

Pendulum  irOn  club  employ  the  wrists  to  a 
stroke  considerable  extent,  and  let  the 

head  swing-  backward  and  forward  like  a 
pendulum.  There  is  no  doubt  that  this  is 
a  very  effective  method,  especially  on  very 
true  greens.  The  only  objection  that  can 
be  raised  against  it  is  that  it  requires  great 
delicacy  of  touch. 

The  club  is  not  pushed  after  the  ball,  as 
in  the  first  case,  but  is  swung1  by  the  action 
of  the  wrists;  and  you  will  find  that  the 
smallest  predominance  in  the  strength  of 
the  grip  with  either  hand  will  cause  the  ball 
to  reflect  from  its  proper  line.  In  order  to 
preserve  accuracy  the  shaft  must  be  held 
equally  firmly  in  either  hand,  and  neither 
arm  must  be  brought  too  much  into  the 
stroke. 

There  is,  it -seems  to  me,  another  objec- 
tion on  general  principles  to  the  use  of  the 
iron  putter,  and  that  is  the  difference  al- 
ready shown  between  the  short  approach 
and  the  put.  You  cannot  blend  the  two  as 
you  would  if  you  used  a  cleek  to  put  with. 

The  best  iron  putter  is  probably  the 
Park  patent  with  the  bent  neck.  It  enables 
you  to  hit  the  ball  rather  more  squarely, 
and  does  away  in  great  measure  with  the 
tendency  to  let  the  ball  glide  off  the  surface. 


The  Wooden  Putter.  141 

The  Wooden  But  of  all  the  putters,  there  is 
Putter.  not  one  which  is  so  trustworthy 

as  the  oldest  of  all — the  wooden  putter. 
New  clubs  for  use  on  the  green  are  invented 
from  time  to  time,  and  win  adherents,  but 
in  the  long-  run  the  wooden  putter  holds  its 
own.  And  this  is  the  reason:  If  you  are 
going  to  use  a  short,  heavy,  upright  club  at 
all,  it  is  better  to  use  one  that  gives  a  cer- 
tain life  to  the  ball.  This  is  particularly 
essential  in  playing  long  approach  puts, 
where  the  elasticity  of  the  wooden  face 
keeps  the  ball  running  over  any  casual 
roughness  which  may  come  in  the  wa)7. 
Moreover,  unless  your  greens  are  very 
true,  the  wooden  club  has  a  great  advan- 
tage in  that  it  does  not  keep  the  ball  quite 
so  close  to  the  ground  as  the  iron  putter.  A 
great  many  players  find  it  advisable  to  use 
an  iron  club  for  short  puts,  even  when  they 
employ  the  wood  everywhere  else.  That 
is  simply  a  question  of  taste.  Confidence 
is  the  main  requisite  for  steadiness  in  holing 
short  puts,  and  if  you  are  not  certain  of  one 
club,  it  is  better  to  take  another  that  you 
imagine  you  can  rely  upon. 

The  position  and  method  for  the  use  of 
the  wooden  putter  are  practically  the  same 
as  in  the  case  of  the  iron  putter  or  putting 
cleek.  Do  not  forget,  however,  to  hit  the 


POSITION    FOR   THE   WOODEN    PUTTER 


Distinction  between  Courses.     143 

ball  slightly  toward  the  toe  of  the  club,  or 
at  all  events,  avoid  striking-  it  with  the  heel. 
The  Distinction  Great  latitude,  as  may  be  ob- 
between  served,  is  permissible  in  the 

Courses.  choice  of  clubs  for  use  on  the 

putting-  green.  There  is  this  much  to  be 
said,  however:  On  courses  in  Scotland 
and  Eng-land  it  would  be  perfectly  safe  to 
recommend  the  wooden  putter  in  prefer- 
ence to  all  others,  since  the  best  links  are 
all  by  the  sea.  In  America,  so  many  of  the 
courses  are  inland,  or  rather,  so  few  are 
near  the  sea,  that  a  strong-  distinction  has 
to  be  drawn  between  seaside  and  inland 
putting-  greens.  Unless  the  soil  is  of  a 
sandy  nature,  it  is  wrong-  to  begin  life 
with  a  wooden  putter.  After  a  great  many 
years  it  may  be  possible  to  get  the  same 
fine  grass  inland  as  is  found  on  seaside 
courses ;  but  even  that  is  very  doubt- 
ful. For  the  present  at  least,  the  coarser 
and  more  stubbly  nature  of  the  best  lawn 
grass  debars  the  effective  use  of  the  wooden 
putter.  And  yet  you  will  find  it  very  diffi- 
cult to  play  your  long  puts  with  the  ordi- 
nary iron  putter,  especially  if  the  greens 
are  at  all  heavy.  The  ball  stays  too  near 
the  ground,  and  its  strength  is  affected  by 
any  unevenness,  and  especially  by  long 
grass.  The  best  club  for  inland  greens  is 


144     Distinction  between  Courses. 

therefore  the  genuine  cleek  with  a  driving- 
shaft,  cut  short  if  necessary  for  conven- 
ience' sake;  it  enables  you  to  get  the  neces- 
sary distance  without  any  great  exertion, 
and  it  also  allows  the  ball  to  travel  more 
evenly  over  strong-  grass. 

It  must  be  remembered,  of  course,  that 
in  recommending  any  particular  club  for 
putting  purposes,  nothing  more  is  intended 
than  an  expression  of  opinion.  I  know  num- 
bers of  excellent  players  who  disagree  with 
me  and  who  support  their  judgment  by  an 
irritating  display  of  accuracy  on  the  green. 
Still,  since  beginners  have  no  prejudice  in 
favor  of  one  club  or  the  other,  it  is  just  as 
well  that  they  should  choose  that  one  whose 
use  has  been  sanctioned  by  the  majority. 
Now,  on  sandy  soil  the  wooden  putter  prob- 
ably has  the  preference  among  first-class 
players,  and  the  cleek  or  some  similar  iron 
weapon  is  a  good  second.  The  regular  iron 
putter,  with  its  straight  face  and  upright 
shaft,  is  not  patronized  to  any  great  extent 
by  the  faculty.  If  you  are  going  to  use  an 
iron  putter  at  all,  it  is  better  to  get  what  is 
known  as  a  putting  cleek,  a  sort  of  cross 
between  a  driving  cleek  and  an  iron  putter, 
or  else  one  of  Park's  patent  clubs,  with  the 
crooked  neck. 


The  Line  of  the  Put.  145 

The  Line  of  And  finally,  remember  to  look 
the  Put.  at  the  ball.  Too  much  care  over 
the  line  of  your  put  is  a  dangerous  thing-. 
Make  up  your  mind  as  to  your  direction 
first,  and  then  when  you  address  the  ball, 
look  once  at  the  hole  and  once  at  some  in- 
tervening- point  of  the  line  which  you  have 
chosen,  and  then  devote  yourself  entirely 
to  hitting-  the  ball  clean.  Many  players  ex- 
amine their  puts  from  both  ends.  But  I 
hardly  think  that  this  is  a  good  plan  unless 
you  cannot  decide  easily  upon  the  line  by 
looking-  at  it  behind  the  ball.  In  ordinary 
cases  it  is  only  confusing-  to  examine  it  from 
both  points  of  view.  Be  very  careful  to 
place  the  head  of  your  club  evenly  on  the 
ground,  and  hit  your  ball  with  confidence, 
and  you  will  be  surprised  to  find  how  many 
times  it  will  find  the  hole. 
Summary.  To  sum  up,  then:  Choose  the 
club  that  suits  you  best,  but  do  not  use  a 
wooden  putter  on  inland  greens  unless  they 
are  in  perfect  condition. 

Do  not  rest  your  right  elbow  on  your 
hip.  In  using  a  regular  putter  stand  erect 
and  swing  the  club  more  or  less  like  a  pen- 
dulum; in  using  a  cleek,  or  any  driving 
club,  get  rather  more  over  the  ball  with  the 
shoulders  and  push  the  arms  toward  the 
hole. 


146  Summary. 

Do  not  put  entirely  with  the  wrists. 
The  arms  and  even  the  shoulders  should 
enter  into  the  stroke. 

Do  not  study  the  line  of  your  put  too 
long-. 

Think  more  of  hitting-  your  ball  clean 
than  of  anything-  else.  Keep  your  eye  on 
the  ball. 


Photographed  by  R.  W.  Hawks,  Edinburgh. 
MR.   JOHN    BALL,    PUTTING 

H? 


Photographed  by  R.  W,  Hawks,  Edinburgh 
MR.    F.   G.   TAIT,   PUTTING 
148 


Photographed  ?>?/  R.  W.  Hawks,  Edinburgh 
MR.   F.   G.   TAIT,  AFTER   THE    PUT 


CHAPTER  V. 

MISCELLANEOUS  SUGGESTIONS. 

IT  is  always  hard  for  the  experienced 
player  in  any  game  to  sympathize  with 
the  difficulties  of  the  beginner.  In  golf,  the 
only  way  in  which  the  expert  can  in  any  way 
put  himself  in  the  duffer's  place  is  by  play- 
ing* a  few  holes  with  a  set  of  clubs  such  as 
is  usually  sold  to  the  unsuspicious  novice. 
He  will  then  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
there  is  nothing-  extraordinary  in  the  in- 
ability of  the  struggling  beginner  to  achieve 
the  desired  result;  on  the  contrary,  it  is 
surprising-  that  with  such  implements  he 
succeeds  in  doing-  anything-  even  passably 
well.  Golf  clubs  are  turned  out  by  the 
million  in  these  days,  and  anything-  short  of 
a  broomstick  is  considered  good  enoug-h  for 
the  young-  player  to  go  out  and  break. 
The  Selection  There  is  a  certain  hindrance 
of  Clubs.  in  the  way  of  the  novice,  from  the 
very  nature  of  things.  He  would  probably 
use  up  a  larger  number  of  the  fine  shafts 
and  delicately  turned  heads  that  are  made 
for  men  who  know  the  difference  between 
a  good  club  and  a  bad  one.  And  so  he  is 

151 


152  Selection  of  Clubs. 

generally  persuaded  by  his  friends  to  select 
a  badly  shaped  lump  of  wood,  miscalled  a 
driver,  thinking-  that  one  weapon  is  as  good 
as  another  for  his  purpose,  so  long-  as  the 
chances  of  breakag-e  are  as  far  as  possible 
eliminated.  And  yet  it  is  quite  a  mistaken 
idea  to  suppose  that  every  beginner  must 
sow  his  wild  oats  to  the  extent  that  is  usually 
taken  for  granted.  If  he  goes  out  deter- 
mined to  drive  the  ball  at  least  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  at  first  sight,  and  is  content  with 
nothing  short  of  a  full  set  of  contortions  in 
imitation  of  what  he  imagines  to  be  a  St. 
Andrews  swing  —  and  after  all,  that  is  the 
course  that  most  beginners  do  pursue  — 
then  his  only  chance  of  reducing  his  account 
with  the  club  maker  to  reasonable  propor- 
tions, is  to  choose  what  Virgil  would  call 
no  small  part  of  a  tree,  and  do  his  best  with 
it.  In  this  way  he  may  avoid  great  pecun- 
iary loss,  but  his  best  will  be  exceedingly 
bad.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  has  read  the 
first  chapter  of  this  book  and  has  inwardly 
digested  it,  he  will  begin  quietly  with  a  half- 
swing,  and  will  so  restrain  his  force  that  it 
will  be  quite  unnecessary  to  break  any  clubs 
at  all.  Indeed,  if  the  beginner  really  takes 
the  advice  there  offered  to  him  there  is  no 
reason  in  the  world  why  he  should  not  be 
far  less  destructive  to  his  clubs  than  the 


Weight  of  Club.  153 

good  player  who  hits  cleaner,  but  with  far 
greater  force. 

Accordingly,  if  you  really  mean  to  play 
the  game  for  what  it  is  worth,  do  not  be 
content  with  whatever  your  club  maker 
may  offer  you.  The  ordinary  price  of  a 
driver  in  Scotland  is  five  shillings  and  six- 
pence, in  this  country  between  a  dollar  and 
a  half  and  two  dollars.  But  it  may  be  taken 
for  granted  that  at  least  seventy-five  per 
cent  of  the  clubs  which  are  sold  at  that 
price  are  quite  unfit  to  play  with.  The 
driver  which  you  have  made  to  order  for 
double  the  price  is  generally  worth  a  whole 
stack  full  of  the  ready  made  article.  If 
possible,  then,  the  beginner  should  either 
procure  a  club  from  some  more  experienced 
friend,  and  have  it  copied,  or  he  should  in- 
sist upon  the  club  maker  supplying  him 
with  a  club  of  reasonable  proportions. 
The  Weight.  In  order  to  choose  most  wisely, 
think  first  of  all  about  the  weight.  It  would 
not  be  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  two-thirds 
of  the  men  who  are  attempting  to  play  golf 
in  America  at  the  present  time  are  using 
clubs  which  are  far  too  heavy  for  the  pur- 
pose. I  constantly  hear  it  said  when  any 
remonstrance  is  offered:  "With  my  style  I 
need  a  heavy  club,"  or,  "I  am  too  weak  to 
use  a  light  club,"  or,  "With  my  strength  I 


154  Weight  of  Club. 

really  ought  to  be  able  to  play  with  a  heavy 
driver,"  and  so  on  in  a  similar  strain.  If 
you  really  do  find  that  you  can  do  better 
with  a  heavily  weighted  club,  you  should  at 
once  change  your  style  of  play;  there  must 
be  something  radically  wrong  with  it.  For 
there  is  a  universal  consensus  of  opinion 
among  good  players  upon  the  subject. 
Some,  of  course,  use  heavier  clubs  than 
others;  it  stands  to  reason  that  a  man  with 
very  powerful  arms  and  wrists  can  swing 
a  club  which  a  weaker  player  could  not  use 
at  all.  But  even  allowing  for  differences  in 
individual  strength,  a  careful  examination 
of  the  drivers  of  all  the  good  players  in  the 
world  would  show  a  surprisingly  small 
variety  in  weight. 

There  is  an  easily  understood  reason 
why  the  beginner  is  naturally  inclined  to 
select  a  heavy  club.  He  has  not  yet  learned 
to  sweep  the  ball  away  instead  of  hitting  it 
as  he  would  with  a  sledge  hammer;  and  ob- 
viously if  the  ball  is  struck  at  as  if  it  were 
a  resisting  object  the  heavier  the  club  is 
the  better  will  be  the  result.  But  this  is 
not  golf.  It  is  possible,  of  course,  to  hit  an 
occasional  long  ball  with  the  sledge  hammer 
stroke,  but  length  must  be  sacrificed  to 
accuracy,  and  the  player  who  adopts  this 
method  generally  goes  from  bad  to  worse, 


Weight  of  Club.  155 

until  he  ruins  his  chances  of  ever  becoming- 
even  a  fairly  good  performer.  The  best 
players  are  also  addicted  at  times  to  this 
hitting-  or  chopping-  tendency,  very  often 
for  the  simple  reason  that  they  have  un- 
consciously been  using-  heavier  clubs  than 
they  are  accustomed  to.  Whenever  this  is 
the  case  it  is  not  at  all  a  bad  plan  to  extract 
a  little  lead.  But  with  the  beg-inner  or  the 
young-  player  who  is  not  yet  certain  of  his 
style,  a  more  radical  chang-e  is  g-enerally 
necessary.  If  he  finds  that  he  cannot  get 
the  necessary  distance  out  of  a  driver  of 
medium  weight,  it  is  almost  certain  that  he 
is  not  sweeping  the  ball  away  at  all;  he  is 
checking  his  swing  as  the  club  comes  down 
instead  of  letting  it  follow  through.  In 
such  a  case  there  is  nothing  for  him  to  do 
but  to  go  back  to  first  principles. 

Having  stated  the  reasons  for  using  a 
light  club,  it  is  necessary  to  say  exactly 
what  the  term  implies.  Advice  of  this  sort 
is  seldom  of  much  service  unless  it  is  ac- 
companied by  figures.  And  yet  the  actual 
weight  of  a  driver  varies  so  much  accord- 
ing to  the  balance  and  lie,  that  it  is  almost 
dangerous  to  be  too  definite.  Still,  a  general 
estimate  may  be  of  some  assistance.  The 
weight  of  a  driver  head  should  not  exceed 
seven  ounces ;  the  shaft  should  be  no 


156  Weight  of  Club. 

heavier;  add  the  two  and  you  will  get  a 
fairly  good  idea  of  wrhat  the  whole  club 
should  weigh  when  a  fraction  of  an  ounce 
has  been  added  for  the  glue  and  string  used 
in  splicing  the  two  together. 

I  am  perfectly  certain  that  if  beginners 
would  observe  these  limits  very  carefully, 
they  would  not  only  get  better  results,  but 
they  would  not  risk  their  entire  future 
prospects  by  ruining  their  styles  at  the 
outset.  One  cannot  insist  too  strongly 
upon  this  point  because,  for  the  reasons  al- 
ready given,  it  is  exceedingly  hard  to  im- 
press upon  the  young  player  the  danger  of 
using  a  heavy  club.  Even  the  more  ex- 
perienced golfer  is  apt  to  forget  the  differ- 
ence that  a  fraction  of  an  ounce  will  make 
in  a  long  match  of  thirty-six  holes.  Just  as 
in  carrying  a  gun,  an  ounce  or  two  is  a  mat- 
ter of  no  importance  when  the  morning  is 
young,  but  the  difference  tells  enormously 
at  the  end  of  a  long  day;  so  with  a  driver 
that  is  a  shade  too  heavy,  the  first  eighteen 
tee  shots  may  be  struck  perfectly  clean, 
but  the  last  nine  in  the  afternoon  are  apt  to 
be  very  erratic. 

And  especially  if  a  player  does  not  pos- 
sess great  strength  of  wrist,  should  he  be 
warned  against  the  mistaken  idea  that  ex- 
tra weight  in  the  club  will  make  up  for  lack 


The  Shaft.  157 

of  muscle  behind  it.  If  the  strong-  man 
should  use  a  light  club  it  is  far  more  neces- 
sary that  the  weaker  player  should  avoid  a 
superabundance  of  lead.  The  main  object 
is  to  hit  the  ball  clean,  and  the  distance  will 
take  care  of  itself.  No  one  can  be  sure  of  a 
clean,  steady  stroke  if  he  is  using-  a  club 
which  is  too  heavy  for  him. 
The  Shaft.  First,  then,  make  up  your  mind 
as  to  the  weig-ht  of  your  wooden  club ;  and 
then  look  at  the  shaft.  It  is  the  fashion  from 
time  to  time  to  adopt  a  thick,  stiff  shaft,  but 
no  one  has  ever  explained  why  that  should  be 
preferable.  The  shaft  should  be  as  thin 
as  possible  without  becoming-  too  supple. 
There  is  a  dang-er  too  of  a  very  thin  shaft 
losing-  its  shape  quickly,  althoug-h  that  is 
not  an  important  consideration,  because  it 
depends  far  more  upon  the  quality  of  the 
wood.  A  g-ood  piece  of  split  hickory  ought 
to  taper  down  where  it  joins  the  head  with- 
out becoming-  supple  at  all.  There  should 
be  a  certain  amount  of  spring-,  but  do  not 
select  a  club  with  the  spring-  high  up  in  the 
shaft.  In  trying  it  you  ought  not  to  feel 
any  suppleness  at  all  in  the  grip.  In  other 
words,  the  spring  should  begin  about  half 
way  between  the  leather  and  the  head. 
Very  few  shafts  answer  to  this  description, 
because  so  much  unseasoned  wood  is  used 


158  The  Shaft. 

in  the  manufacture  of  golf  clubs  that  it  is 
safer  to  leave  the  shaft  in  a  more  or  less 
clumsy  form  to  avoid  bending-  or  breakage. 
Nevertheless,  even  the  beginner  should  get 
as  good  a  club  as  possible,  and  if  he  can  find 
a  thin  shaft  which  is  not  at  the  same  time 
flabby,  he  may  be  fairly  certain  that  he  has 
got  a  good  piece  of  wood. 

The  shafts  of  all  clubs,  it  may  be  re- 
marked, should  be  made  from  split  hickory. 
Various  other  woods  have  been  substituted, 
but  they  have  nearly  always  been  found 
wanting.  Hickory  combines  lightness  and 
spring  with  strength  and  durability  in  a 
way  that  no  other  wood  can  equal.  Seeing 
that  hickory  is  one  of  the  commonest  woods 
in  America,  there  should  be  no  difficulty  in 
securing  good  shafts  in  this  country. 

In  selecting  the  head  of  a  driver,  the 
most  important  thing,  next  to  the  weight,  is 
the  angle  which  it  makes  with  the  shaft. 
Here  again,  individual  taste  must  be  consid- 
ered ;  but,  as  a  general  rule,  the  angle  is  far 
too  obtuse.  The  result  is  that  the  player 
cannot  stand  erect  and  still  keep  the  sole  of 
the  club  level  upon  the  ground.  Remem- 
ber that  your  steadiness  in  driving  is 
greatly  increased  by  standing  fairly  erect 
and  using-  what  is  called  an  upright  club; 


Shape  of  the  Head.  159 

that  is  to  say,  one  with  not  too  obtuse  an 
angle  between  the  shaft  and  the  head. 
The  Shape  of  As  for  the  shape  of  the  head,  you 
the  Head.  should  use  a  bulger  with  plenty  of 
wood  in  it.  There  is  a  tendency  among 
bad  club  makers  to  turn  out  drivers  with  a 
great  deal  of  material  in  the  neck,  but  too 
narrow  a  surface  in  the  face.  Just  as  the 
shaft  should  taper  toward  the  bottom,  so 
the  part  of  the  head  which  joins  the  shaft 
should  be  made  as  fine  as  possible,  in  order 
to  impart  the  requisite  spring. 

For  the  purposes  of  the  beginner,  it  is  all 
important  to  secure  a  good  driver,  because 
he  ought  to  content  himself,  for  a  time  at 
least,  with  practice  in  driving.  And  at  all 
stages  of  the  game  there  is  nothing  which 
adds  so  much  to  the  pleasure  of  the  game, 
as  the  possession  of  a  club  which  gives  the 
player  every  chance  of  success  in  striking 
from  the  tee.  But  a  careful  selection  of  the 
other  clubs  in  the  set  is  really  just  as  im- 
portant, as  soon  as  the  elementary  part  of 
the  game  has  been  mastered. 
The  Brassey.  I  have  already  pointed  out  that  the 
brassey  should  resemble  the  driver,  both 
in  weight  and  lie.  The  more  uniform  you 
can  make  your  clubs  in  that  respect,  the 
greater  will  be  your  steadiness.  And  for 
that  reason  I  would  ag-ain  suggest  that  you 


160  Iron   Clubs. 

should  discard  the  brassey  wherever  the 
character  of  the  turf  warrants  it,  and  use 
instead  either  a  second  driver  for  playing 
through  the  green  or  the  old  fashioned  spoon 
which  has  almost  gone  out  of  use.  A  spoon 
is  simply  a  driver  with  the  face  a  little  laid 
back  in  order  to  raise  the  ball  more  easily, 
and  with  the  shaft  a  trifle  shorter  and  stiffer. 
Whether  you  employ  a  brassey  or  a  spoon,  it 
is  best  not  to  lay  the  face  back  too  much,  be- 
cause any  artificial  aid  in  raising1  the  ball 
from  the  ground  is  rather  to  be  deprecated. 
The  natural  movement  of  the  swing  should 
answer  the  purpose  unless  the  ball  is  lying 
in  a  hole  or  on  the  downward  slope  of  a  hill. 
As  for  the  superiority  of  the  driver  or  spoon 
over  the  brassey,  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  the  brass  on  the  bottom  of  the  club 
must  alter  the  distribution  of  the  weight, 
and  so  destroy  the  uniformity  of  your 
wooden  clubs  without  any  compensating  ad- 
vantage, except  in  cases  where  the  ground 
is  so  hard  and  rough  as  to  injure  the  sole  of 
the  wooden  club. 

Iron  Clubs.  In  the  selection  of  iron  clubs  there 
is  great  scope  for  variety  of  taste.  I  have 
already  warned  the  beginner  against  the 
use  of  a  very  lofted  club,  for  reasons  just 
stated  with  reference  to  the  spoon.  If  you 
play  the  stroke  properly,  you  should  not  re- 


Iron   Clubs.  161 

quire  much  assistance  from  the  club  itself 
in  order  to  loft  the  ball  over  any  ordinary  ob- 
stacle. And  so  your  approaching-  club  should 
be  the  light  iron,  which  you  may  employ  for 
any  distance,  from  a  hundred  and  twenty 
yards  down  to  thirty  or  forty.  In  addition 
to  that  you  will  need  a  cleek  or  a  driving 
mashie  for  distances  of  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  yards,  and  a  driving-  iron  is  useful 
in  negotiating-  distances  which  are  rather 
shorter,  and  yet  too  long  for  the  light  iron, 
and  also  for  playing  all  kinds  of  approach 
shots  in  a  high  wind. 

The  preference  among  good  players 
seems  at  present  to  be  in  favor  of  the 
driving  mashie  as  against  the  cleek, 
partly  because  the  face  is  shorter,  and 
therefore  more  accommodating  when  the 
ball  is  lying  badly,  and  partly  because  the 
extra  breadth  of  the  blade  admits  more 
latitude  for  error.  The  best  driving  mash- 
ies  are  probably  those  which  are  made  by 
Forgan  and  Auchterlonie,  in  St.  Andrews. 
They  are  made  without  the  bulge  in  the 
back,  which  is  rather  a  hindrance  than  any- 
thing else.  In  fact,  it  is  just  as  well  to 
avoid  all  iron  clubs  with  the  bulge.  They 
do  not  drive  any  farther,  and  the  weight  is 
so  much  concentrated  that  the  slightest 


162  Iron    Clubs. 

deviation  from  the  center  of  the  club  in- 
volves a  very  bad  stroke. 

In  choosing*  between  a  mashie  and  what 
is  generally  called  a  lofter,  it  is  much  better 
to  take  the  former.  A  good  mashie  should 
weigh  about  as  much  as  your  light  iron,  and 
should  not  be  excessively  laid  back.  A 
lofter  is  made  after  the  fashion  of  a  soup 
ladle,  and  cannot  possibly  be  used  with 
great  accuracy.  The  beginner  clings  to  it 
because  he  finds  that  he  can  overcome  ob- 
structions with  it,  forgetting  that  with  a 
little  practice  he  can  obtain  the  same  results 
by  using  a  less  lofted  mashie,  where  the 
occasion  demands  it,  and  as  a  general  rule 
the  ordinary  light  iron,  which  is  not  such  a 
spectacular  club,  but  infinitely  more  trust- 
worthy. 

Up  to  the  present  time  there  seems  to 
be  little  sign  of  any  great  improvement  on 
the  part  of  American  club  makers  upon  the 
implements  that  come  from  Scotland,  and 
for  that  reason  the  beginner  cannot  do  bet- 
ter than  look  for  the  name  of  one  of  the 
great  Scotch  club  makers.  Irons  are  not 
like  drivers.  As  far  as  the  shape  of  the 
head  goes,  there  is  no  reason  why  they 
should  not  be  turned  out  by  the  thousand. 
The  name  of  a  club  maker  on  the  head  of  a 
driver  means  nothing  at  all,  because  only 


Iron   Clubs.  163 

one  out  of  ten  wooden  clubs  is  made  of 
properly  seasoned  wood,  and  only  one  out 
of  twenty  is  worth  the  price  that  is  paid 
for  it.  But  when  once  a  club  maker  has 
secured  a  good  pattern  for  an  iron  club, 
he  should  be  able  to  duplicate  it  forever. 
Forgan,  Morris  and  Auchterlonie,  to  men- 
tion only  three,  can  always  be  trusted  in 
that  respect,  and  Simpson,  at  Carnoustie, 
turns  out  some  excellent  light  irons.  For- 
gan's  driving  mashie  is  perhaps  the  pret- 
tiest and  most  useful  club  of  the  kind  that 
is  made,  and  all  Auchterlonie's  irons  are 
good. 

As  for  wooden  clubs,  it  is  best  to  buy 
them  on  the  spot  if  you  have  a  good  club 
maker.  The  Scotch  professionals  control 
the  market  in  that  respect,  because  it  is  al- 
most impossible  for  any  one  to  make  wooden 
clubs  who  does  not  understand  their  use. 
The  wholesale  manufacture  of  wooden  clubs 
may  meet  the  enormous  demand  which 
comes  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  as  far 
as  quantity  goes,  but  the  quality  is  dis- 
tinctly lacking.  If  you  have  not  a  good 
professional  club  maker  close  at  hand,  you 
must  do  what  you  can  with  the  ready  made 
article ;  but  there  is  no  reason  why  any  golf 
club  should  not  secure  the  services  of  a 
really  good  professional  maker. 


164  Choice  of  Balls. 

The  Choice  of      The  selection  of  balls  is  a  more 
Balls.  uncertain  matter.    The  difficulty 

is  two-fold.  The  professional  club  makers 
who  make  a  limited  number  of  balls  out  of 
good  material  cannot  furnish  supplies  to  the 
general  market;  on  the  other  hand,  the  firms 
which  manufacture  balls  by  the  thousand 
are  sure  to  become  careless.  At  the  present 
time  there  is  no  ball  in  this  country  which 
for  all-round  purposes  surpasses  that  which 
is  made  by  the  Silvertown  company.  The 
material  is  generally  good,  the  molding  is 
excellent  and  the  paint  holds  very  well. 
Unfortunately  one  often  comes  across  a  box 
of  Silvertowns  which  are  not  seasoned, 
are  carelessly  painted  and  badly  pressed. 
Always  look  carefully  at  the  molding;  if 
it  is  clean  cut,  the  ball  has  probably  been 
well  pressed  and  will  fly  true.  If  it  is  shal- 
low and  indistinct,  the  mold  has  probably 
been  worn  out  and  the  ball  is  not  properly 
pressed.  A  good  clear  marking  is  very 
essential,  and  the  paint  should  be  applied 
in  such  a  way  as  not  to  fill  up  the  interstices. 
There  are  a  number  of  different  balls  in  use 
in  America  which  are  more  or  less  good. 
The  Woodley  Flyer  and  the  Black  A  1  are 
very  similar  in  make,  but  neither  of  them 
comes  up  to  the  best  of  the  Silvertowns. 
Just  at  present  there  is  a  great  demand 


The  Playing  of  Matches.         165 

for  balls  made  in  the  Agrippa  mold.  And 
there  does  seem  to  be  some  advantage  in 
the  marking-,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  balls  which  are  remade  in  that  mold 
are  generally  superior  to  any  others.  There 
is  this  objection,  however,  to  the  average 
Agrippa  ball,  that  it  does  not  keep  either  its 
shape  or  its  paint  so  well  as  a  good  Silver- 
town.  Consequently  -they  make  up  in  ex- 
pense for  what  they  gain  in  flying-  capacity. 
It  is  a  g-ood  plan  to  lay  in  a  store  of  balls 
so  that  you  are  certain  of  their  being-  prop- 
erly seasoned.  But  it  should  be  remem- 
bered that  it  is  possible  to  keep  a  ball  too 
long-.  From  eighteen  months  to  two  years  is 
about  the  limit;  after  that  there  is  a  loss  in 
weight  and  elasticity. 

On  the  Playing  When  you  have  secured  a  good 
of  Matches.  set  of  clubs  and  the  right  kind  of 
ball,  and  have  even  learned  to  play  a  steady 
game,  there  is  still  much  that  you  can  do 
to  improve  upon  your  knowledge  and  en- 
joyment of  golf.  First  of  all,  play  the 
game  for  the  sake  of  the  personal  en- 
counter. For,  after  all,  golf  is  a  trial  of 
skill,  and  not  a  solitary  mode  of  exercise. 
For  that  reason,  give  up,  as  far  as  possible, 
counting  your  score,  and  devote  your  time 
to  playing  matches.  In  arranging  a  game 
you  should,  for  your  own  advantage,  play 


1 66       The  Playing  of  Matches. 

with  your  superiors,  but  it  is  both  useless 
and  discouraging-  to  encounter  a  man  who 
can  give  you  very  great  odds.  One  stroke 
a  hole  is  the  limit  which  can  be  given  in 
order  to  make  a  match  interesting,  and 
even  that  is  putting  it  at  a  high  figure.  A 
match  can  be  keenly  exciting  between  two 
men  who  differ  by  six  strokes  in  the  round, 
but  anything  above  that  is  apt  to  rob  the 
game  of  its  interest.  Still,  if  you  are  a  very 
bad  player,  but  can  yet  be  relied  upon  to  a 
certain  extent,  you  may  improve  your  game 
immensely  by  playing  in  foursomes  with 
men  who  can  give  you  very  great  odds.  It 
is  astonishing  how  successfully  a  pair,  con- 
sisting of  a  first-class  and  a  fourth-class 
player,  can  encounter  two  players  of  the  sec- 
ond class.  But  whatever  you  do,  never  play 
a  man  on  level  terms  who  ought  either  to 
give  you  odds  or  receive  them  from  you. 
That  is  a  very  common  mistake  which  is 
constantly  being  made,  because  there  are 
certain  players  who  object,  for  some  un- 
known reason,  to  taking  odds  in  any  game. 
To  obviate  this  habit,  the  custom  of  betting, 
as  long  as  it  is  kept  within  well  defined  lim- 
its, is  most  beneficial.  A  man  may  be  will- 
ing to  take  a  beating  on  even  terms  when 
he  loses  nothing  thereby,  either  in  purse  or 
in  pride,  and  stands  to  win  a  good  deal  of 


Giving  and  Taking  Odds.        167 

glory  should  he  chance  to  gain  the  victory. 
But  if  he  is  playing*  for  a  stake,  be  it  ever  so 
small,  the  commercial  instinct  is  aroused, 
and  he  will  take  all  the  odds  that  his  oppo- 
nent will  concede.  In  the  latte^r  case  he  may 
improve  his  game;  in  the  former  he  cer- 
tainly will  not.  The  only  way  to  become  a 
good  golfer  is  to  play  every  match  for  all  it 
is  worth,  and  in  order  to  do  this  you  should 
always  arrange  the  odds  as  fairly  as  pos- 
sible. 

Giving  and  The  practice  of  giving  and  re- 
Taking  Odds,  ceiving  bisques  is  by  no  means 
a  bad  method  of  handicapping  in  match  play 
because  it  gives  the  inferior  player  a  chance 
of  playing  his  opponent  on  even  terms  as 
long  as  he  likes,  and  at  the  end  of  the  game  if 
he  has  won  the  match  without  the  aid  of  his 
bisques  he  is  entitled  to  all  possible  credit. 
The  better  player  cannot  then  argue  that 
the  game  had  no  interest  for  him,  as  he 
might  if  it  were  really  played  without 
odds  at  all.  And  from  the  expert's  point 
of  view  it  is  by  no  means  a  bad  plan ;  for  he  is 
forced  to  play  the  game  from  the  very  start. 
If  he  is  giving  his  opponent  half  a  stroke  a 
hole,  he  is  apt  to  play  very  carelessly  in  the 
holes  where  there  are  no  strokes ;  but  when 
he  is  giving  bisques  he  cannot  afford  to 
throw  away  a  single  chance, because  he  must 


1 68          The  Etiquette  of  Golf. 

not  only  divide  these  holes,  but  must  win 
them  if  possible  with  a  stroke  to  spare.  But 
whatever  the  system  of  handicapping-  may 
be,  always  take  as  much  as  you  can  get,  and 
give  as  little  as  will  be  accepted,  and  you 
will  still  find  that  if  there  is  anything-  at  all 
at  stake,  you  will  have  to  play  a  g-ood  g-ame 
to  win.  In  that  way  you  will  soon  become 
a  g-ood  match  player;  otherwise  you  will 
probably  improve  more  slowly,  and  in  the 
meantime  g-et  much  less  enjoyment  out  of 
the  g-ame. 

The  Etiquette  The  etiquette  of  g-olf  should 
of  Golf.  aiso  be  most  carefully  studied. 
You  may  not  be  a  g-ood  player,  but  you  may 
at  least  equal  the  very  best  exponents  of  the 
g-ame  in  your  manner  of  playing-  it.  As  far  as 
the  rules  g-o,  be  most  scrupulous,  even  in  an 
ordinary  practice  g-ame,  to  observe  the  strict 
letter  of  the  law,  and  never  take  any  con- 
cession from  your  opponent.  If  he  asks  you 
to  remit  a  penalty,  that  is  another  matter. 
You  oug-ht  to  be  in  a  position,  however,  to 
refuse  him  everything-  that  is  not  his  by 
rig-ht.  On  the  other  hand,  do  not  quibble 
about  technical  points  which  obviously  do 
not  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  rule.  For 
instance,  no  one,  whose  mind  is  not  clouded 
by  enthusiasm,  could  ever  think  of  claiming- 
a  hole  because  his  opponent  accidentally 


The  Etiquette  of  Golf.          169 

drops  a  club  in  a  bunker  where  his  ball  is 
lying-  some  distance  away.  Be  very  careful, 
however,  to  do  nothing-,  either  in  action  or 
in  words,  which  may  annoy  your  opponent 
and  so  spoil  his  g-ame.  There  are  many 
subtle  ways  of  irritating-  him  if  he  is  at  alia 
nervous  player,  and  to  tell  the  truth,  there 
are  a  number  of  prominent  g-olfers  who  are 
not  above  .employing-  these  questionable 
methods;  not  that  they  would  intentionally 
put  him  off  a  stroke,  but  they  seem  to  think 
that  remarks  which  are  quite  unnecessary, 
and  which  may  prove  rather  annoying-,  are 
perfectly  legitimate. 

In  England  or  Scotland  players  who  re- 
sort to  these  devices  are  very  easily  dealt 
with.  No  one  plays  with  them.  Here  it  is 
not  so  easy  to  act  in  that  way,  because  there 
are  so  many  tournaments  and  prize  com- 
petitions that  for  at  least  half  your  season 
you  cannot  choose  either  your  partner  or 
your  opponent.  I  have  actually  heard  a 
player  admit  that  he  sometimes  plays  more 
slowly  than  is  absolutely  necessary,  because 
it  may  assist  him  to  defeat  his  adversary. 
If  he  only  thoug-ht  about  it  for  a  moment  he 
would  see  that  such  a  course  is  really  just 
as  reprehensible  as  a  deliberate  attempt  to 
interfere  with  a  player's  swing-.  He  oug-ht, 
on  the  contrary,  to  be  particularly  careful 


170  Duties  of  On-lookers. 

to  avoid  undue  deliberation,  which  might 
unintentionally  be  a  cause  of  annoyance. 
The  Duties  of  It  may  be  useful  to  point  out 
Onlookers,  here  to  on-lookers  in  the  game  that 
they  also  have  duties  to  perform.  If  they 
care  to  follow  a  match  they  are  bound  in  all 
courtesy  to  study  the  wishes  of  the  players. 
The  most  common  fault  which  may  be  found 
is  in  the  position  which  is  nearly  always 
assumed  by  ignorant  bystanders  when  a 
player  is  making-  a  stroke.  They  naturally 
stand  behind  the  ball  in  the  direct  line  of 
flight,  which  is  the  one  place  they  ought  to 
avoid.  They  should  either  stand  behind  the 
player's  back  where  he  cannot  see  them  at 
all,  or  right  in  front  of  him,  so  that  they  do 
not  catch  his  eye  as  he  swings  backward. 
And  above  all,  they  should  not  move  or 
speak  until  the  shot  is  played.  There  is 
ample  time  for  conversation  between  shots 
without  disturbing  the  player  just  as  he  is 
about  to  hit  the  ball.  It  would  be  most 
beneficial  if  a  few  suggestions  of  this  nature 
were  incorporated  in  the  rules  upon  the 
etiquette  of  golf,  and  especially  if  a  diagram 
were  made  showing  exactly  where  the  on- 
looker should  stand  when  a  stroke  is  being 
played. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

TRAINING  AND  TOURNAMENT  PLAY. 

THERE  was  a  time  when  golf  was 
played  as  a  recreation.  In  those  days 
any  one  would  have  ridiculed  a  definite 
system  of  training-  for  the  big-  events.  But 
now  that  the  game  has  become  the  main 
business  of  our  lives,  any  course  of  exercise 
or  rule  of  diet  which  may  bring-  enhanced 
opportunities  of  victory  must  be  taken  into 
the  most  serious  consideration.  And  yet 
in  matters  of  training-  g-olf  is  unlike  any  of 
the  other  great  games  which  we  pursue 
with  short  intervals  for  business.  No  one 
can  consume  an  unlimited  amount  of  to- 
bacco and  still  row  in  a  college  race  with  any 
chance  of  success.  The  captain  of  a  foot- 
ball team  would  be  foolish  if  he  did  not  dis- 
courage pastry  and  strong  drink.  Even 
the  devotees  of  the  polo  field  must  refrain 
from  Pommery  at  every  meal.  With  golf  it 
is  quite  another  matter.  Some  of  our  best 
players  are  tobacco  fiends.  One  can  hardly 
picture  Mr.  F.  G.  Tait  without  his  pipe,  or 
Mr.  Hilton  shorn  of  his  cigarette.  Our 

171 


172  Tournament  Play. 

best  scores  are  often  made  after  nights  of 
whist  and  Scotch  whisky;  indeed,  there  are 
those  who  believe  that  the  true  secret  of 
success  is  somehow  bound  up  with  liberal 
ideas  upon  the  subject  of  the  national  drink 
of  Caledonia.  This  view  of  the  question 
impresses  itself  with  startling*  emphasis 
upon  athletes  in  this  country  who  have  been 
accustomed  to  look  upon  the  traditions  of 
the  training-  table  as  upon  the  unalterable 
laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians.  And  they 
are  apt  to  feel  very  indignant  when  in  spite 
of  careful  diet  they  are  defeated  by  less 
scrupulous  opponents  who,  by  all  the  rules 
of  retribution,  ought  to  be  incapable  of 
hitting-  the  ball  at  all. 

As  a  g-eneral  rule,  training-  is  simply  a 
matter  of  habit.  Most  American  oars- 
men would  be  rather  surprised  if  they 
could  see  the  members  of  a  college  eig-ht, 
at  Oxford,  supposed  to  be  in  strict  train- 
ing-, drinking-  liberal  potations  of  home 
brewed  ale  during-  dinner,  and  washing-  it 
down  with  a  glass  or  two  of  the  richest 
port  that  the  common  room  can  supply. 
And  I  imagine  that  the  captain  of  an 
American  football  or  baseball  team  would  be 
scandalized  to  hear  that  in  the  case  of  the 
'varsity  cricket  elevens  and  football  fif- 
teens, in  England,  such  a  thing  as  training 


Tournament  Play.  173 

in  any  shape  or  form  is  practically  un- 
known. Possibly,  the  great  English  uni- 
versities err  rather  in  the  direction  of  lib- 
erality. But  after  all,  a  game  ought  to  be 
played  for  the  sake  of  recreation,  and  not 
studied  like  a  profession.  Moreover,  I 
doubt  very  much  whether  the  winning  ca- 
pacity of  any  football  team  is  greatly  in- 
creased by  any  close  restrictions  in  the 
matter  of  diet.  One  understands,  of  course, 
that  smoking  should  be  prohibited  among 
college  eights,  because  the  consumption  of 
tobacco,  particularly  on  the  part  of  young 
men,  is  apt  to  injure  the  wind.  But  in 
games  where  there  is  no  continued  strain 
upon  the  lungs,  the  question  of  smoking  is 
totally  irrelevant.  However  that  may  be, 
it  is  perfectly  natural  that  golf,  being  a 
game  of  recent  importation  into  America, 
has  not  yet  become  a  subject  for  any  strict 
laws  upon  the  subject  of  training. 

Believing  firmly,  as  I  do,  that  in  every 
sport  latitude  in  diet  and  habits  of  life  is 
strongly  to  be  recommended,  both  because 
such  a  course  is  consistent  with  success, 
and  because  it  is  not  reasonable  to  regard 
any  game  or  sport  in  too  serious  a  light,  I 
have  no  intention  of  writing  any  prescrip- 
tions for  use  before  tournaments.  Even  if 
such  advice  were  desirable  in  dealing  with 


174  Tournament  Play. 

rowing-  or  foot  ball,  the  circumstances  which 
surround  the  game  of  golf  would  rob  it  of 
all  its  value.  The  players  in  this  case  are 
generally  men  of  mature  years  and  settled 
habits,  who  could  not  change  their  methods 
of  life  without  serious  discomfort.  More- 
over, it  must  always  be  remembered  that 
the  mental  condition  is  of  far  greater  im- 
portance than  physical  fitness.  You  can- 
not play  golf  if  you  are  worried  in  mind, 
and  therefore  my  first  exhortation  to  any 
one  about  to  enter  a  tournament  or  play  an 
important  match  is  that  he  should  divest 
himself  entirely  of  all  thoughts  bearing 
upon  any  subject  except  the  matter  imme- 
diately in  hand.  Concentration  of  purpose 
is  quite  as  necessary  as  strength  of  arm. 

Let  no  one  suppose,  however,  that  a 
sound  physical  condition  is  not  of  supreme 
importance.  A  blind  man,  a  cripple  or  a 
habitual  drunkard  is  not  likely  to  win  many 
trophies  on  the  links. 

Whoever  is  looking-  for  advice  upon  the 
playing-  of  tournaments  is  at  least  a  person 
of  some  athletic  sense.  He  knows  that  the 
better  his  health  is,  the  greater  are  his 
chances  of  success;  he  knows  also  that 
practice  makes  perfect,  if  he  has  read  his 
copybook.  These  are  truisms  which  are 
granted  at  the  outset.  But  I  desire  chiefly 


Tournament  Play.  175 

to  point  out  that  the  average  man  who  leads 
an  upright  and  sober  life  would  act  very 
foolishly  to  change  any  of  his  ordinary 
habits  before  a  tournament.  If  he  is  a 
smoker,  he  should  on  no  account  discard 
tobacco;  if  he  is  accustomed  to  stimulants, 
he  should  drink  just  as  much  as,  and  no 
more  than,  he  does  on  ordinary  occasions. 

Possibly  some  one  may  confront  me  with 
the  argument  that  both  smoking  and  drink, 
ing  are  injurious  to  the  health.  If  any  one 
thinks  so  he  would  be  wise  to  abjure  them 
both,  but  he  should  abjure  them  qua  man  and 
not  qua  golfer.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  these 
pleasant  habits  are  not  found  to  hurt  the 
system  in  other  departments  of  life,  it  is 
impossible  to  see  why  they  should  interfere 
with  the  game  of  golf.  In  fact,  I  would 
even  go  a  step  further  and  say  that  they 
are  positively  conducive  to  good  play. 
Take,  for  instance,  a  man  who  smokes  a 
certain  amount  of  tobacco  every  day;  when 
he  comes  to  a  tournament,  or  to  a  close 
match,  he  will  find  a  great  deal  of  help  and 
consolation  in  his  pipe  or  his  cigarette,  as  the 
case  may  be.  Another  player,  perhaps,  is  ac- 
customed during  a  hard  day's  golf  to  fortify 
himself  in  various  ways  at  luncheon  or  at 
dinner,  when  the  game  is  over.  To  such  a 
person  I  would  never  say,  Omit  your  whisky 


Tournament  Play. 

and  soda  during-  a  tournament.  I  should 
be  much  more  inclined  to  admonish  him  to 
take  two  where  before  he  took  one.  The 
mental  strain  of  a  tournament  increases  the 
ordinary  fatigue  of  playing-  at  least  one 
hundred  per  cent,  and  therefore  those 
accustomed  to  stimulant  of  any  sort  should 
increase  rather  than  diminish  the  dose. 
As  for  diet,  there  is  hardly  anything- which 
a  man  who  is  playing-  thirty-six  holes  a  day 
cannot  and  may  not  eat  with  safety.  Good 
food,  and  plenty  of  it,  is  the  watchword 
for  every  golfer.  It  may  be  necessary,  how- 
ever, to  guard  against  one  error,  for  which 
Mr.  Horace  Hutchinson,  in  perfect  inno- 
cence, is  partly  responsible. 

Some  years  ago,  when  first-class  players 
were  not  so  plentiful,  and  record  breaking 
was  not  a  matter  of  every-day  occurrence, 
Mr.  Leslie  Balfour-Melville,  in  playing  for 
the  medal  of  the  Royal  and  Ancient  Golf 
Club,  at  St.  Andrews,  broke  the  existing 
record  for  medal  play,  by  completing  the 
eighteen  holes  in  eighty-five  strokes.  It 
was  hardly  expected  that  such  a  score  could 
be  beaten.  Mr.  Alexander  Stuart,  however, 
had  not  started  when  Mr.  Balfour-Melville's 
card  was  handed  in.  With  excellent  dis- 
cretion he  ordered  himself  a  steak  and  a 
pint  of  champagne,  which  he  discussed  at 


Tournament  Play.  177 

leisure,  and  thereafter  surprised  everyone 
by  returning-  a  score  of  eighty-three,  break- 
ing- by  two  strokes  the  record  which  had 
been  established  only  two  hours  before. 

Mr.  Horace  Hutchinson,  in  compiling 
the  Badminton  book  ong-olf,  was  mindful  of 
this  occurrence,  and,  while  publishing-  no 
names,  he  printed  a  picture  strong-ly  re- 
sembling- Mr.  Stuart  in  the  act  of  eating 
that  fateful  luncheon,  and  held  it  up  as  an 
example  to  all  future  aspirants  for  golfing 
honors.  It  is  years  now  since  the  medal 
record  at  St.  Andrews  stood  as  hig-h  as 
eig-hty-six,  and  so  I  may  be  forgiven  for 
mentioning-  proper  names;  Mr.  Hutchinson 
may  also  forgive  me  if  I  point  out  that  his 
advice  on  that  subject  is  g-ood  relatively, 
but  not  absolutely.  It  was  only  a  chance 
sug-g-estion  in  any  case;  yet  that  picture  of 
the  steak  and  the  man,  and  above  all,  the 
familiar  pint  bottle,  has  something  so  com- 
forting and  attractive  about  it,  that  many 
readers  have  fastened  their  attention  upon 
that  piece  of  advice  to  the  exclusion  of 
everything  else. 

In  reality,  it  is  mainly  a  question  of  cli- 
mate. In  the  cold  air  of  Scotland,  no  harm 
can  come  of  seeking  adventitious  aid  from 
Heidsieck's  special  cuvee,  or  even  the  more 
democratic  Glenlivet.  In  America  we  are 


178  Tournament  Play. 

accustomed  to  play  golf  in  almost  tropical 
weather,  and  under  such  circumstances 
stimulants  should  be  administered  after, 
rather  than  before,  the  contest.  Any  one 
who  is  in  the  habit  of  playing-  games  is 
aware  that  on  a  hot  day,  and  especially  after 
taking-  exercise,  the  smallest  modicum  of 
alcohol  is  apt  to  affect  the  eye,  and  there- 
fore it  by  no  means  follows  that  what  may 
be  done  with  success  in  Scotland  can  be 
ventured  upon  with  impunity  in  America. 

In  hot  weather  it  is  well  to  be  rather 
careful  between  rounds,  and  when  an 
important  match  has  to  be  played  in  the 
afternoon,  a  lig-ht  luncheon  is  particularly 
advisable.  In  other  respects,  however,  care 
in  training-  may  be  greatly  overdone.  Even 
in  rowing  it  is  customary  to  administer 
champagne  to  a  crew  after  a  hard  race;  and 
in  golf,  where  the  strain  is  of  far  longer 
duration,  a  hard  day's  play  may  very  reason- 
ably be  rewarded  by  such  restoratives  as 
may  be  found  most  acceptable. 

The  regulation  of  practice  in  the  game 
itself  is  more  important  than  any  restric- 
tion of  diet.  Golf  has  been  taken  up,  like 
most  other  pursuits  in  America,  with  an 
enormous  amount  of  enthusiasm;  and  the 
constant  tendency  is  in  the  direction  of 
overplay.  In  England  and  Scotland  there 


Tournament  Play.  179 

are  very  few  weeks  in  the  year  when  golf 
is  impracticable,  and  only  a  month  or  two 
when  the  temperature  is  either  disagree- 
ably hot  or  cold.  Yet  the  best  players  very 
rarely  devote  more  than  four  or  five  weeks 
in  the  spring  and  a  similar  time  in  the 
autumn  to  the  real  practice  of  the  game. 
During  the  rest  of  the  year  they  may  play 
an  occasional  match,  but  they  are  seldom  on 
the  links  for  two  days  in  succession.  In 
America,  those  who  play  golf  at  all  do  it 
for  six  months  at  a  time,  and  they  are  sur- 
prised to  find  that  they  cannot  keep  up  their 
form  for  the  whole  of  that  period. 

If  golf  is  going  to  be  a  regular  part  of 
your  existence,  two  or  at  most  three  days  a 
week  is  quite  enough  for  its  exercise,  if  you 
desire  to  preserve  either  your  skill  or  your 
interest.  And  even  then  it  would  be  ad- 
visable to  take  an  occasional  week  off  and 
get  away  entirely  from  the  atmosphere  of 
the  game.  When  it  comes  to  tournament 
play  you  should  order  all  your  practice  with 
a  view  to  reaching  the  top  of  your  game 
just  at  the  right  moment.  It  is  fatal  to 
strike  twelve  a  month  before  the  important 
event.  Consequently,  if  you  find  that  you 
are  actually  improving  too  quickly,  you 
should  be  all  the  more  careful  not  to  overdo 
it.  Most  golfers  will  tell  you  that  they  play 


180  Tournament  Play. 

the  strongest  and  most  consistent  game 
about  the  end  of  the  third  week  from  the 
time  that  they  began  regular  practice;  so 
that  you  must  pursue  a  course  of  this  na- 
ture (remembering  always  that  we  are 
speaking  now  with  regard  to  success  in  an 
important  tournament,  and  not  from  the 
point  of  view  of  any  pleasure  that  you  may 
derive  from  the  pastime).  Granted  that 
you  have  already  developed  your  game  to 
the  limit  of  its  capacity,  you  should  give  up 
playing  altogether  about  two  months  before 
the  tournament  in  question,  and  for  four  or 
five  weeks  you  should,  if  possible,  keep 
away  entirely  from  the  sight  of  a  golf  links ; 
even  the  discussion  of  the  game  should  be 
avoided.  You  require  a  complete  mental 
and  physical  rest  from  this  most  arduous 
pursuit.  You  must  not,  however,  give  up 
every  kind  of  physical  exercise.  One  con- 
stantly hears  that  tennis  and  cricket  and 
baseball  spoil  golf.  This  is  an  entirely  mis- 
taken idea.  Of  course,  you  cannot  play 
cricket  or  baseball  and  golf  interchange- 
ably. If  you  do  you  will  fail  in  both.  But 
if  you  have  already  acquired  a  good  golfing 
style,  you  may  play  any  other  game  for  a 
year,  and  then  go  back  to  golf  and  find  that 
you  have  gained  rather  than  lost  by  the  di- 
version. The  fact  is  that  the  constant 


Tournament  Play.  181 

practice  of  any  single  game  develops  only  a 
certain  set  of  muscles,  and  these  muscles 
beg-in  to  lose  their  vigor  when  they  are 
called  too  frequently  into  play;  to  speak 
technically,  the  man  becomes  stale.  As  soon 
as  any  symptom  of  this  flabbiness  becomes 
apparent,  the  golf  club  should  be  discarded 
for  some  other  weapon. 

Play  another  game,  then,  for  four  or  five 
weeks,  and  then-  with  about  a  fortnight  to 
spare  come  back  to  golf  and-  you  will  find 
yourself  assailed  by  a  new  access  of  vigor 
and  keenness.  From  that  time  on  until  the 
final  contest  you  may  play  steadily  and 
often,  but  it  is  well  not  to  exceed  thirty-six 
holes  a  day,  or  five  days  a  week;  in  fact, 
even  that  limit  is  rather  liberal.  Do  not 
play  too  many  matches  in  the  meantime 
that  you  are  particularly  anxious  to  win,  for 
that  will  use  up  a  large  part  of  your  mental 
energy;  and  employ  at  least  a  third  of  the 
time  in  practicing,  with  single  clubs,  the 
strokes  that  you  find  most  difficult. 

If  you  follow  this  advice  you  will  prob- 
ably find  yourself  in  the  best  condition 
when  the  tournament  begins.  But  that  is 
not  all  you  have  to  consider.  It  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  that  your  mind  should 
also  be  clear  and  untroubled.  There  is  no 
game  in  the  world  where  the  mental  strain 


1 82  Tournament  Play. 

is  so  great.  It  begins  with  the  first  day  of 
the  tournament,  and  lasts  throug-h  every 
hole  until  the  final  stroke  is  played.  In 
entering-  the  g-ame,  therefore,  you  must 
make  up  your  mind  to  two  thing's: 

First  of  all,  you  must  give  your  opponent 
no  possible  chance  through  any  careless- 
ness on  your  part.  However  easy  the 
match  may  seem,  you  must  play  your  hard- 
est. Remember  that  you  not  only  want  to 
win,  but  you  want  to  win  easily,  so  that  you 
use  up  as  little  of  your  store  of  energy  as 
possible.  That  is  where  many  players  lose 
themselves  in  tournaments  where  there  are 
several  rounds  of  match  play.  They  forg-et 
that  one  victory  only  leads  to  another  con- 
test, and  they  often  allow  a  much  weaker 
opponent  to  bring-  the  match  to  a  close  finish, 
thus  wearing-  themselves  out  needlessly. 

In  the  second  place,  concentrate  your 
attention  upon  the  g-ame  itself,  and  never 
think  for  a  moment  of  the  final  result. 
This  is  the  hardest  task  of  all,  but  it  must 
be  accomplished  if  you  desire  to  win.  As 
soon  as  you  beg-in  to  think  of  the  possi- 
bility of  defeat,  you  will  become  over-anx- 
ious, and  you  will  lose  your  freedom  of 
style.  It  may  seem  almost  impossible  for 
a  player  to  divest  himself  entirely  of  all 
hopes  and  fears  for  the  future.  But  it  is  a 


Tournament  Play.  i&3 

faculty  which  comes  readily  with  practice 
in  tournament  play.  Some  acquire  it  more 
quickly  than  others.  There  are  several 
cases  in  the  history  of  golf  championships 
of  victories  won  by  very  young-  men.  Mr. 
P.  C.  Anderson  and  Mr.  Allen  were  both  of 
tender  golfing-  years  when  they  defeated  all 
the  other  amateurs  of  Great  Britain.  It  is 
seldom,  however,  that  the  necessary  confi- 
dence and  concentration  come  to  a  man 
until  he  has  had  several  years  of  experience 
in  big-  matches,  and  that  is  why  there  are 
probably  more  first-class  players  over  the 
age  of  thirty  than  there  are  below  it. 

There  are  other  habits  which  even  the 
young-est  player  may  possess,  with  the  ex- 
ercise of  a  little  intelligence.  There  is  a 
strong  tendency  among  American  players 
of  the  first  rank  in  the  direction  of  extreme 
caution  and  deliberation  in  tournament 
play.  It  requires  no  argument  to  prove 
that  slowness  is  for  every  reason  a  thing  to 
be  discouraged  for  the  sake  of  the  general 
welfare.  But  apart  from  the  good  of  your 
fellow-creatures,  you  have  your  own  chances 
of  success  to  consider,  and  you  are  assur- 
edly waging  war  upon  yourself  if  you  get 
beyond  a  certain  point  in  exercising  care. 
The  fault  arises  not  from  your  caution  in 


184  Tournament  Play. 

match  play,  but  more  probably  from  a  want 
of  speed  and  freedom  in  ordinary  practice. 

There  is  nothing-  which  retards  a  man's 
improvement  in  the  game  so  much  as  a 
lack  of  freedom.  It  is  a  matter  of  common 
observation  that  even  a  good  golfer  holes 
his  short  puts  with  far  greater  accuracy 
when  he  is  not  trying  than  when  he  has  the 
strain  of  an  important  match  upon  him. 
In  the  same  way  the  indifferent  player 
swing's  more  freely  at  a  daisy  than  at  a  ball. 
Now,  if  you  cramp  yourself  by  excess  of 
care  in  an  ordinary  g-ame,  as  so  many  young- 
players  do,  how  much  more  will  you  check 
your  natural  impulses  in  a  tournament! 
Therefore  if  you  have  the  main  end  in 
view,  you  will  prefer  to  play  quickly  and 
swing-  freely,  even  to  the  verge  of  careless- 
ness in  your  every-day  round,  so  that  when 
the  occasion  does  really  call  for  deliberation 
you  will  be  able  to  put  a  certain  restraint 
upon  yourself  without  entirely  losing  your 
freedom. 

It  is  an  extraordinary  fact  that  a  small 
and  inconsiderable  gutta  percha  ball  has  the 
most  paralyzing  effect  upon  the  minds  and 
muscles  of  sane  and  healthy  men,  causing 
them  to  tremble  and  grow  rigid  before  it. 
This  unnatural,  yet  universal,  obsession  can 
only  be  overcome  by  constant  practice. 


Tournament  Play.  185 

You  must  learn  to  rid  yourself  of  this  ter- 
ror by  pretending-  to  disregard  it.  Go  up 
to  the  ball  and  hit  it  just  as  if  you  were  not 
in  the  least  afraid  of  it.  Assume  a  freedom 
of  manner,  even  if  it  belies  your  feelings, 
and  in  time  you  will  break  down  the  influ- 
ence of  the  bug-bear  to  such  an  extent  that 
even  in  an  important  match  you  will  bear 
yourself  with  courage  and  indifference. 

You  must  be  careful,  on  the  other 
hand,  not  to  overdo  the  quickness  of  your 
play  in  practice.  That  is  to  say,  you  may 
swing  freely  and  address  your  ball,  espe- 
cially on  the  putting  green,  with  speed  and 
decision;  but  do  not  get  too  much  into  the 
habit  of  racing  around  the  links,  because  if 
you  do  you  will  find  the  waiting  which  is  a 
necessary  part  of  tournament  play,  excess- 
ively irksome.  Even  with  the  best  ar- 
rangements, the  progress  of  the  various 
couples  in  a  large  competition  must  be 
somewhat  slow,  and  if  you  have  not  inured 
yourself  to  the  tedium  of  long  waits,  such 
as  you  may  suffer  any  day  at  the  high  hole 
at  St.  Andrews,  or  on  any  teeing  ground 
at  North  Berwick,  you  will  find  yourself 
the  victim  of  much  inward  irritation. 

Of  two  contradictories,  therefore,  in  spite 
of  the  logic  books,  you  must  choose  both. 
In  practice,  accustom  yourself  to  playing 


1 86  Summary. 

quickly  and  freely.  Learn  also  in  practice 
to  play  slowly.  As  a  result  you  will  be  able 
on  great  occasions  to  add  something"  of 
caution  to  your  g-ame,  without  suffering- 
from  what  has  been  well  termed  ball  shy- 
ness ;  and  you  will  also  be  in  a  position  to 
wait  for  a  slow  couple  in  front,  or  for  the 
many  deliberations  of  your  opponent,  with- 
out losing-  that  equanimity  which  is  in- 
dispensable to  success. 

Summary.  To  sum  up,  then,  I  should  advise 
every  g-olfer  to  live  a  healthy  life.  There- 
after it  is  unnecessary  to  chang-e  in  any 
way  your  habits  of  existence  with  a  view  to 
success  in  a  competition. 

Do  not  play  too  much,  and  above  all,  do 
not  reach  the  top  of  your  g-ame  too  soon. 

Learn  to  concentrate  your  attention 
upon  each  stroke,  and  not  upon  the  g-eneral 
result. 

Finally,  practice  the  utmost  freedom  of 
swing-  and  address  in  ordinary  play,  so  that 
you  may  exercise  deliberation  in  competi- 
tion, without  becoming-  abnormally  slow. 
But  do  not  accustom  yourself  so  much  to 
rapidity  that  the  waits  in  a  tournament 
affect  your  nerves. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   MAKING   OF   A  NEW   COURSE. 

WHEN  the  number  of  Scotchmen  who 
have  crossed  the  Atlantic  is  fully 
considered,  it  is  rather  surprising-  that  the 
royal  and  ancient  game  should  have  been 
imported  so  recently  as  1890  or  thereabouts. 
It  was  really  two  years  later  that  a  genuine 
interest  in  golf  was  aroused  by  the  organiz- 
ing of  clubs  for  the  purpose  of  its  propa- 
gation ;  and  the  United  States  Golf  Associa- 
tion has  only  been  in  existence  for  three 
seasons. 

Once  started,  however,  the  devotion  to 
the  game  became  almost  a  craze.  At  the 
time  of  writing  nearly  a  hundred  clubs 
have  joined  the  association,  and  the  num- 
ber will  in  all  probability  be  doubled  in  the 
course  of  the  next  twelve  months.  To  an 
Englishman,  who,  in  the  last  decade,  has 
seen  innumerable  golf  courses  spring  up 
like  mushrooms  over  every  county  in  Great 
Britain,  the  membership  of  the  association 
may  appear  disappointingly  small.  But 
when  it  is  remembered  that  it  is  as  easy, 

187 


1 88      Difficulties  to  be  Overcome. 

from  a  financial  point  of  view,  to  form  a  hun- 
dred clubs  in  England  as  it  is  to  place  one 
on  a  firm  basis  in  America,  the  strides  made 
by  the  association  in  the  short  period  of 
three  years  must  be  taken  to  indicate  a  love 
of  the  pastime  which  far  exceeds  the  ordi- 
nary short  lived  boom  so  often  accorded  to 
any  new  fad  in  this  country. 
The  Difficulties  The  difficulties  of  securing- 
to  be  Overcome.  a  suitable  course,  and  of  main- 
taining- it  when  secured,  can  hardly  be 
realized  «by  any  one  who  has  been  accus- 
tomed to  find  g-olf  links  ready  made  along- 
the  coast  of  Great  Britain.  Since  most 
courses  in  America  are  of  necessity  in- 
land, and  since  the  very  best  soil  can  only 
yield  the  requisite  quality  of  turf,  the  land 
which  is  boug-ht  by  an  incipient  g-olf  club, 
instead  of  being-  practically  worthless  for 
any  other  purpose,  as  is  so  often  the  case  in 
Scotland,  has  a  very  hig-h  value  as  farming- 
property.  In  the  second  place,  the  business 
instincts  of  the  averag-e  American  make  it 
incumbent  upon  him  to  seek  his  amusement 
within  a  thirty-mile  radius  of  his  down-town 
office;  and,  as  every  one  knows,  vacant  lots 
within  such  a  radius  of  any  larg-e  city  are 
ruinously  expensive.  And  so  it  is  no  un- 
common thing-  for  a  g-olf  club  to  pay  down 
$50,000  in  hard  cash  before  a  ball  is  struck. 


Necessary  Expenditure.          189 

And  that  is  only  the  beginning-.  You  may  g-et 
two  hundred  acres  of  fine  old  pasture,  per- 
fectly drained  and  full  of  natural  hazards. 
You  are  far  more  likely  to  find  the  drainag-e 
conspicuous  by  its  absence,  the  difficulties 
and  obstacles  of  a  kind  that  have  to  be  re- 
moved at  a  considerable  cost,  the  grass  defi- 
cient both  in  quantity  and  quality.  On  inland 
courses  you  generally  have  to  sod  your  put- 
ting- greens,  you  certainly  have  to  cut  your 
bunkers,  and  you  are  fortunate  if  you  do 
not  find  it  necessary  to  root  out  a  hundred 
acres  of  virg-in  forest.  Even  so,  the  battle 
is  but  half  over.  A  steam  roller  must  be 
purchased  to  remedy  the  effects  of  a  severe 
winter's  frost,  and  in  the  west,  at  least,  a 
water  system  which  will  cost  you  upwards 
of  $5,000  under  the  most  favorable  circum- 
stances, is  absolutely  essential  to  the  proper 
enjoyment  of  the  g-ame.  Add  to  this  the 
minor  fact  that  in  the  summer  months  you 
will  probably  run  over  the  entire  course 
with  close  cutting-  mowing-  machines,  and 
you  will  have  some  conception  of  what  it 
costs  to  purchase  and  keep  links  in  America 
in  first-rate  condition. 

Necessary  By    this    enumeration    of    ex- 

Expenditure,  penses  I  do  not  mean  to  strike 
terror  into  the  hearts  of  any  struggling- 
green  committee  who  would  disband  at 


190    Advantages  of  a  Good  House. 

once  if  such  a  sum  as  $100,000,  or  even  a 
tenth  part  of  it,  were  declared  to  be  the 
minimum  basis  of  calculations.  If  your 
aims  are  modest,  you  may  start  your  golf- 
ing- career  on  a  much  smaller  capital;  you 
may  lay  out  a  nine-hole  course  to  begin 
with,  and  be  content  to  make  your  improve- 
ments very  slowly.  My  intention  is  simply 
to  point  out  that  unless  you  are  very  favor- 
ably situated,  as  you  might  be,  for  instance, 
on  Long  Island,  where  the  soil  is  sandy  and 
bunkers  are  natural,  you  cannot  get  an 
eighteen-hole  course  into  first-class  condi- 
tion in  the  short  space  of  two  or  three 
years,  and  at  the  same  time  build  and  main- 
tain a  suitable  club  house  without  an  outlay 
which  will  involve  the  expenditure  of  a  sum 
very  little  short  of  $100,000. 
The  Advantages  The  club  house,  it  may  be 
of  a  Good  House,  remarked  in  passing,  is  a  very 
necessary  part  of  the  scheme;  for  in 
order  to  get  the  required  list  of  members 
it  is  necessary  before  anything  else  to  sup- 
ply those  ordinary  comforts  and  luxuries 
which  will  make  up  to  the  influential  mem- 
ber for  the  tribulation  that  he  goes  through 
in  trying  to  learn  a  game  which  he  has  not 
yet  begun  to  love  for  its  own  sake.  The 
history  of  golf  clubs  in  this  country  is  a 
constant  repetition  of  the  same  story  in 


Advantages  of  a  Good  House.    191 

that  respect.  The  club  is  generally  started 
by  the  enthusiastic  few  who  want  to  play 
the  game.  In  order  to  attain  their  ends 
they  inveigle  a  number  of  their  companions 
into  subscribing  for  the  purchase  of  the 
house  and  ground.  There  is  no  question 
about  the  loyalty  of  these  laymen  if  they 
can  only  be  induced  to  give  the  game  a  fair 
trial.  But  there  is  always  a  period  of  trep- 
idation when  they  have  learned  to  com- 
plain to  the  house  committee,  but  have  not 
yet  become  interested  in  their  scores  to 
the  exclusion  of  every  other  interest  in  life. 

Somewhere  in  his  philosophical  writings 
Mr.  Punch  tells  a  young  wife  that  the  best 
way  to  deal  with  a  husband  is  simply  to 
feed  the  brute.  I  would  not  go  so  far  as 
that  in  plainness  of  speech,  but  I  do  con- 
sider it  most  important  for  the  welfare  of  a 
new  golf  club,  that  those  members  whose 
subscriptions  are  desirable  and  whose  golf- 
ing enthusiasm  is  not  yet  fully  developed, 
should  be  brought  into  the  fold  by  a  nice 
regard  for  their  personal  comforts. 

Taking  everything  into  consideration, 
then,  I  hardly  think  that  I  have  Overesti- 
mated the  sum  which  a  new  club  must 
spend  before  it  possesses  a  first-class 
course.  Whether  that  sum  should  be  spent 
at  once,  or  spread  over  a  number  of  years, 


192     The  Scarcity  of  Good  Courses. 

is  entirely  a  matter  for  the  committee  upon 
ways  and  means  to  decide.  The  main 
thing  to  be  desired  is  that  the  members  of 
the  club  should  not  shut  their  eyes  to  the 
facts  of  the  case.  For  if  they  are  mis- 
led into  thinking-  that  they  can  obtain  the 
required  results  in  a  less  expensive  way, 
they  are  not  only  deceiving-  themselves, 
but  they  will  probably  was  tea  larg-e  amount 
of  money  in  half  measures.  Work  slowly 
if  you  will,  but  always  keep  the  main  end  in 
view,  so  that  whatever  improvements  you 
do  decide  upon  may  have  a  permanent 
value. 

The  Scarcity  The  enormous  cost  of  making 
of  Good  ancl  maintaining-  a  fine  course  in 

Courses.  America  is  probably  accounta- 
ble for  the  fact  that  g-ood  courses  are  very 
few  and  far  between.  There  is,  perhaps, 
another  reason;  and  that  is  the  fact  that 
country  clubs  were  in  existence  before  g-olf 
was  ever  mentioned,  and  when  the  new  pas- 
time was  introduced  the  country  clubs  had 
to  make  the  best  of  the  property  at  hand, 
instead  of  looking-  for  the  most  suitable  nat- 
ural location.  Shinnecock  Hills  is  one  of 
the  few  sites  for  a  g-olf  club  which  seems  to 
have  been  chosen  with  an  eye  to  the  best 
possibilities  of  the  g-ame.  Other  spots  have 
been  selected  either  because  they  were 


The  Scarcity  of  Good  Courses.    193 

close  to  already  existing-  clubs,  or  because 
they  were  within  easy  reach  of  the  great 
cities.  As  a  result  there  is  not  a  single 
course  in  America  which  really  compares 
with  the  best  links  in  Great  Britain.  And 
the  sooner  we  acknowledge  that  fact  the 
better  it  will  be  for  the  game  in  this  coun- 
try. Where  we  generally  make  a  mistake 
is  in  believing  that  an  inland  course  can 
ever  be  made  the  equal  of  a  North  Berwick 
or  St.  Andrews.  Not  that  I  would  in  any 
way  detract  from  the  praise  due  to  the  skill 
and  energy  which  have  been  displayed  in  the 
laying  out  of  some  of  our  best  links.  Here, 
at  all  events,  we  have  one  of  the  important 
features  of  the  development  of  golf  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic.  In  Great  Britain  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  an  inland  course  which 
in  any  way  approaches  perfection,  the  rea- 
son being  that  there  are  so  many  seaside 
links  within  easy  reach  that  the  improve- 
ment of  those  situated  away  from  the  sea  is 
hardly  worth  the  expense. 

Here  we  certainly  have  inland  courses 
which  infinitely  surpass  anything  of  the 
same  nature  in  Great  Britain,  and — what  is 
far  more  to  the  point — really  present  a  first- 
class  test  of  golf.  Visitors  to  America  from 
the  home  of  golf  in  Scotland  have  often  ex- 
pressed surprise  at  the  wonderful  way  in 


194    Inferiority  of  Inland  Courses. 

which  natural  difficulties  have  been  over* 
come.  And  since  most  of  our  courses  must 
of  necessity  be  removed  from  the  sea,  it  is 
most  gratifying-  to  observe  the  great  im- 
provement which  has  taken  place  in  a  very 
short  space  of  time.  But,  nevertheless,  it 
is  necessary  to  keep  the  ideal  constantly  in 
view,  and  to  remember  that  with  the  best 
intentions  in  the  world  we  still  fall  very  far 
short  of  perfection. 

The  Inferior-  There  are  two  respects  in 
ity  of  Inland  which  inland  courses  must  al- 
Courses.  ways,  humanly  speaking-,  fall 

short  of  the  natural  seaside  links,  and 
especially  those  which,  like  Prestwick, 
Sandwich  and  Machrihanish  —  to  name 
only  three  out  of  a  very  larg-e  number  — 
have  been  singularly  favored  by  Provi- 
dence. The  turf  on  the  inland  course  may 
be  as  good  as  possible,  but  it  will  never 
yield  that  fine  quality  of  putting  which 
makes  the  short  game  on  the  great  courses 
so  interesting.  Seaside  grass  is  a  thing  en- 
tirely sui generis ;  it  is  the  only  grass  which 
presents  that  smooth  billiard  table  surface, 
so  familiar  to  old  golfers.  On  inland  put- 
ting greens  the  turf  may  be  so  excellent 
that  there  is  never  any  excuse  for  missing 
a  put  of  two  yards ;  but  the  ball  travels  in 
a  different  way;  it  never  trickles  from  the 


Inferiority  of  Inland  Courses.     195 

club  into  the  hole  as  the  ivory  trickles  into 
the  pocket  of  a  billiard  table.  And  that  is 
where  the  real  science  of  putting-  is  exhib- 
ited. The  man  who  is  accustomed  to  play 
on  well  kept  inland  putting-  greens  is  sure 
to  find  himself  hopelessly  at  sea  when  he 
comes  to  play  over  the  genuine  g-olfing-  turf, 
where  the  ball  must  be  struck  with  the 
most  delicate  touch. 

Secondly,  it  is  practically  impossible  to 
reproduce  by  artificial  means  the  great 
sand  bunkers  which  are  peculiar  to  the 
coast  of  Great  Britain.  It  is  just  conceiv- 
able that  such  bunkers  mig-ht  be  con- 
structed inland,  but  the  expense  would  be 
so  enormous  that  the  possibility  may  well 
be  ignored.  And  so  the  awe  inspiring  effect 
of  a  large  sand  bunker  stretching  for  a  hun- 
dred yards  or  more  in  front  of  the  tee,  and 
rising  very  often  to  the  height  of  an  ordi- 
nary house,  is  unknown  to  those  who  play 
only  on  inland  courses,  where  bunkers  are 
nothing  but  inconsiderable  trenches,  very 
ruinous,  perhaps,  to  a  score,  but  quite  de- 
void of  any  power  to  destroy  the  nerve  of 
the  poorest  player. 

I  have  often  heard  complaints  made 
against  the  number  of  bunkers  upon  our 
best  courses ;  and  yet  the  fact  is  that  there 
is  not  a  single  course  in  this  country  which 


196     Inferiority  of  Inland  Courses. 

has  one-third  of  the  number  of  sand  bunkers 
which  may  be  encountered  at  St.  Andrews, 
and  not  one  whose  bunkers  piled  all 
tog-ether  would  make  a  hazard  of  the  dimen- 
sions of  "the  Maiden"  at  Sandwich  or  the 
"Himalayas"  at  Prestwick. 

For  that  reason  it  will  be  readily  under- 
stood that  there  is  less  distinction  here  be- 
tween a  first-class  and  a  second-class  player 
than  in  Great  Britain ;  for  the  character  of 
the  courses  is  such  that  innumerable  drives 
may  be  missed  without  any  serious  penalty. 
Even  where  there  are  regular  bunkers  in 
front  of  the  tee,  they  are  so  small  that  they 
only  catch  a  few  out  of  the  many  bad  shots 
which  are  played.  It  may  be  argued,  of 
course,  that  the  same  remark  applies  to  St. 
Andrews,  where  it  is  possible  to  top  at  least 
twelve  out  of  your  eighteen  tee  shots  and 
yet  go  unscathed.  But  then,  St.  Andrews 
is  perhaps  the  only  first-class  course  where 
such  a  state  of  things  exists,  and  there  are 
so  many  compensations  in  the  shape  of 
scattered  bunkers  through  the  course,  and 
the  holes  are  laid  out  so  perfectly  in  the 
matter  of  distance,  that  the  one  failing  is 
not  so  serious  as  it  might  be. 
The  Remedies.  There  are  two  ways  of  getting 
over  the  bunker  difficulty  on  inland  courses; 
neither  of  them  is  altogether  satisfactory, 


Dealing  with  Inland  Courses.      197 

but  both  may  be  employed  with  advantage. 
To  beg-in  with,  whether  your  bunkers  are 
large  enough  or  not,  it  is  always  well  to  ar- 
range your  holes  at  such  distances  apart 
that  a  bad  drive  will  be  of  necessity  pun- 
ished, whether  it  lands  the  ball  in  a  hazard 
or  not.  Secondly,  it  is  always  possible,  in 
summer,  at  least,  to  let  the  grass  grow  for 
about  a  hundred  yards  in  front  of  the  tee, 
so  that  a  topped  ball  cannot  run  very  far, 
and  the  second  shot  will  in  all  likelihood  be 
spoiled.  The  only  objection  to  this  plan  is 
that  it  becomes  monotonous,  and  also  tends 
to  a  great  loss  of  balls.  If  it  has  to  be  re- 
sorted to,  the  grass  should  be  kept  care- 
fully cut  to  such  an  extent  that  the  ball 
cannot  very  well  run  through  it  for  any 
distance,  and  yet  will  not  be  entirely  con- 
cealed from  view.  For  every  other  reason 
except  to  punish  bad  driving,  long  grass  is 
a  thing  to  be  strenuously  avoided  in  the  fair 
course.  It  is  a  certain  cause  for  the  loss  of 
valuable  gutta  percha,  and  therefore  for  the 
wasting  of  much  more  valuable  time. 
Method  of  Having  once  settled  the  ques- 
Dealing  with  tion  of  the  inferiority  of  all  inland 
Inland  courses,  we  may  proceed  to  the 

Courses.  discussion  of  the  means  toward 
producing  the  best  results  with  the  ma- 
terial at  hand. 


198  Choice  of  Property. 

Choice  of  Beg-in    by    selecting-   the    best 

Property.  soil  that  is  available.  Light, 
sandy  soil  is  the  best  for  the  purpose,  be- 
cause it  dries  easily  after  rain,  and  yet  does 
not  bake  to  the  consistency  of  iron  in  hot 
weather.  A  clay  soil  is  strong-ly  to  be 
avoided.  If  you  cannot  g-et  sand,  search 
for  rich  loam,  which  is  not  so  desirable 
either  in  droug-ht  or  in  rain,  but  yet  affords 
a  fine  deep  sod.  If  possible  g-et  a  piece  of 
property  devoid  of  trees.  One  of  the  con- 
stant incumbrances  upon  American  courses 
is  to  be  found  in  the  shape  of  woodland. 
The  desire  to  obtain  picturesque  surround- 
ing's has  generally  overruled  more  utilita- 
rian motives,  and  so  a  budding-  golf  club 
often  invests  in  real  estate  which  is  quite 
unfit  for  the  exercise  of  the  game  without 
an  enormous  expenditure  of  capital. 
Removal  of  When  you  have  bought  your 
Obstacles,  land,  which  should  be  as  undulat- 
ing as  possible, without  being  mountainous, 
proceed  to  lay  out  the  best  course  that  the 
lie  of  the  ground  permits,  irrespective  of  a 
building  site  for  your  club  house  or  the 
picturesque  grouping  of  woods.  Then  go 
to  work  ruthlessly  and  root  out  every  tree 
which  interferes  in  the  most  remote  degree 
with  your  course.  Remember  that  the 
course  should  be  nearly  seventy-five  yards 


The  Location  of  Holes.         199 

wide  at  all  points,  and  that  there  should  not 
be  a  single  tree  of  any  description  upon  it. 
You  will  have  to  come  to  this  state  of  things 
sooner  or  later ;  so  you  may  just  as  well 
harden  your  heart  at  the  beginning-.  You 
will  probably  encounter  a  good  deal  of 
antagonism  from  artistic  souls,  and  will 
have  to  enjoy  the  reputation  of  utter  vandal- 
ism; but  that  need  not  trouble  you  greatly. 
Your  reward  will  come  when  the  course  is 
in  a  finished  state,  and  in  the  meantime 
any  one  who  desires  to  indulge  in  amateur 
forestry  can  retire  to  some  region  which 
not  been  devoted  to  the  ends  of  golf. 
The  Location  In  laying  out  your  holes  do  not 
of  Holes.  be  bound  down  by  any  cast  iron 
rule.  The  distances  on  the  best  courses 
abroad  have  not  been  decided  by  regula- 
tion, but  by  the  natural  fitness  of  things. 
Of  course,  if  your  property  consists  simply 
of  an  expanse  of  more  or  less  level  pasture 
—  and  that  is,  perhaps,  the  most  promising 
material  to  work  upon  —  you  can  arrange 
the  length  of  your  holes  to  suit  yourself. 
But  in  most  cases  there  will  be  one  or  two 
special  features  which  should  be  utilized  in 
order  to  make  picturesque  holes,  such  as 
may  differentiate  your  course  from  any 
other.  It  is  not  a  bad  plan  to  select  your 
short  hole  first.  The  most  perfect  kind  of 


2OO        The  Location  of  Holes. 

short  hole  is  one  which  requires  an  iron 
shot  on  to  a  green  where  the  flag-  is  full  in 
view,  with  a  yawning- hazard  which  stretches 
from  the  tee  rig-ht  up  to  the  edg-e  of  the 
putting-  green.  You  will  probably  find  such 
a  hazard,  or  the  opportunity  for  one,  some- 
where on  your  property,  and  you  should 
choose  that  for  one  at  least  of  your  short 
holes.  And  then  as  a  g-eneral  rule  look  out 
for  hig-h  spots  and  locate  your  putting-  greens 
there.  A  links  is  made  particularly  interest- 
ing- where  you  have  the  flag-  plainly  visible 
from  the  teeing-  ground.  There  should  be 
few,  if  any,  blind  holes  upon  a  g-ood  course. 
Moreover,  one  advantag-e  of  having-  putting- 
greens  upon  the  hig-h  places  is  the  fact  that 
some  of  your  teeing-  grounds  will  also  of 
necessity  be  on  eminences  commanding-  a 
view  of  the  entire  ground  over  which  you 
have  to  play.  There  is  nothing-  prettier  in 
g-olf  than  the  play  from  a  teeing-  ground  on 
the  top  of  a  hill,  with  a  larg-e  bunker  im- 
mediately in  front.  If,  therefore,  your 
property  possesses  any  special  features  of 
this  kind,  do  not  fail  to  make  use  of  them 
even  if  you  have  on  that  account  to  depart 
from  the  actual  distances  sanctioned  by 
custom.  Wherever  your  putting-  greens 
are  not  clearly  determined  for  you  by 
nature,  you  should  have  the  ideal  course 


The  Distances.  2OI 

constantly  in  view,  and  although  you  may 
show  a  certain  individuality  in  striving- 
after  it,  its  services  as  a  rough  basis  are 
invaluable. 

The  Distances.  The  nearest  approach  to  per- 
fection in  the  matter  of  distances  was  made 
by  the  original  founders  of  the  St.  Andrews 
links  in  Scotland.  A  plan  of  the  course, 
with  the  correct  distances,  will  be  found  at 
the  end  of  this  chapter;  there  are  also  dia- 
grams of  Prestwick  and  North  Berwick, 
with  the  distances  as  nearly  correct  as  is 
possible,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  teeing 
grounds  vary  considerably.  Study  St. 
Andrews  carefully,  and  you  will  discover 
that  the  holes  are  so  distributed  as  to  de- 
mand skill  in  every  conceivable  kind  of 
stroke,  and  also  to  do  away  as  far  as  pos- 
sible with  the  element  of  luck. 
St.  Andrews.  First  of  all,  there  are  two  short 
holes  which  vary,  according  to  weather, 
between  a  full  cleek  shot  and  a  half  iron. 
Secondly,  there  are  two  holes,  the  ninth  and 
the  tenth,  where  the  drive  need  only  be  fol- 
lowed by  a  very  short  approach.  More  than 
two  such  holes  on  an  eighteen-hole  course 
must  be  avoided,  because  they  allow  the 
player  to  miss  his  drive  very  badly  without 
any  punishment  whatsoever.  It  is  rather 
a  mistake  to  have  holes  of  such  a  distance 


202  St.  Andrews. 

that  a  missed  drive  may  be  redeemed  by  a 
fine  brassey  shot;  but  it  is  a  great  deal 
worse  when  the  difference  beween  a  g-ood 
and  a  bad  drive  only  entails  the  difference 
between  a  long*  iron  approach  and  a  short 
one.  Still,  two  holes  of  the  objectionable 
leng-th — from  two  hundred  to  three  hundred 
yards  —  are  perfectly  admissible  in  a  full 
eig-hteen-hole  course,  provided  that  the  other 
distances  are  g-ood.  Now,  at  St.  Andrews 
there  are  two  five-hundred-yard  holes,  two 
of  four  hundred,  and  ten  between  four  hun- 
dred and  three  hundred.  The  long-  holes 
require  two  long-  drives  and  an  approach,  or 
three  fair  drives,  the  two  of  four  hundred 
call  for  two  very  long-  shots  with  a  wooden 
club,  and  the  rest  may  be  reached  in  two 
shots  which  vary  between  two  full  drives 
and  a  drive  followed  by  a  half  iron  shot. 
In  every  case,  with  the  exception  of  the 
ninth  and  tenth  holes  already  alluded  to, 
the  tee  shot  must  be  clean  hit  —  not  because 
there  is  a  bunker  to  be  neg-otiated,  but  be- 
cause even  a  slig-ht  error  will  make  it  very 
hard,  if  not  impossible,  to  reach  the  putting- 
green  with  the  second  shot.  It  requires  no 
extended  arg-ument  to  show  that  this  is  one 
of  the  most  important  points  to  bear  in 
mind  when  laying-  out  a  new  course ;  for  it 
creates  at  once  a  wide  distinction  between 


St.  Andrews.  203 

the  first-class  and  the  second-class  player. 
Do  not  imagine,  however,  that  your  holes 
must  really  be  of  such  a  uniform  character 
as  this  description  might  seem  at  first  sight 
to  imply.  Although  there  are  fourteen  holes 
at  St.  Andrews  which  under  ordinary  cir- 
cumstances may  be  reached  in  two  strokes, 
and  cannot  be  reached  in  less,  the  second 
stroke  is  probably  a  different  one  in  every 
case.  It  may  either  be  a  very  long-  shot 
with  a  wooden  club  or  a  full  cleek  shot,  or  a 
full  iron  or  a  half  shot.  There  are  other 
ways,  moreover,  of  varying-  the  monotony 
by  the  arrangement  of  bunkers,  and  the 
situation  of  the  putting-  greens.  The  sec- 
ond shot  may  have  to  be  of  the  high  or 
lofted  variety  so  as  to  carry  a  bunker  close 
to  the  hole,  or  it  may  be  more  advisable  to 
play  a  running  shot  when  there  is  no  ob- 
stacle in  the  direct  line,  and  the  putting 
green  is  of  such  a  nature  as  to  make  a  lofted 
shot  almost  impossible.  Such  is  the  case 
very  often  at  North  Berwick,  where  the  hole 
is  situated  upon  a  hard  plateau  so  that  a 
ball  pitched  right  on  to  the  green  is  certain 
to  run  past  the  hole. 

This,  then,  is  the  first  principle  to 
observe  in  selecting  distances:  Place  your 
holes  so  far  apart  that,  with  only  one  or 


2O4  Other  Courses. 

two  exceptions,  they  can  be  reached  in 
one,  two  or  three  full  shots.  As  you  will 
see  by  the  diagram  and  figures,  there  are 
two  holes  at  St.  Andrews  which  may  be 
reached  easily  in  one  stroke,  two  which 
may  be  reached  in  one  and  a  little  more; 
twelve  that  require  two  good  shots,  and  two 
that  can  only  be  reached  by  the  average 
g-ood  player  in  three ;  and  after  all,  you  can- 
not improve  upon  that  as  a  basis  for  imita- 
tion. 

Other  Courses.  Prestwick  not  being-  laid  out 
as  St.  Andrews  is,  with  parallel  courses  out 
and  in,  has  a  different  arrangement.  There 
is  only  one  short  hole — the  second — of  the 
reg-ulation  type.  The  fifth  and  the  seventh 
are  both  short  in  the  sense  that  they  can  be 
reached  in  one  stroke,  but  on  calm  days 
they  call  for  the  use  of  a  wooden  club. 
There  are  two  holes  of  the  objectionable 
length,  the  sixteenth  and  the  eig-hteenth, 
both  of  which  need  only  a  drive  and  a  very 
short  approach.  But  there  is  this  to  be 
said  in  their  favor,  that  a  really  long-  driver 
may  get  within  putting  distance  off  the  tee, 
and  in  the  case  of  the  sixteenth,  there  are 
several  bunkers  to  be  avoided,  so  that  a 
good  drive  is  really  very  necessary.  A 
course  of  this  nature  has  not  the  uniform 


Other  Courses.  205 

perfection  of  St.  Andrews,  for  its  three 
short  holes  occur  on  the  outward  journey, 
making-  the  first  half  round  easier  than  the 
second.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  this 
objection  to  the  St.  Andrews  course,  that 
the  short,  easy  holes  come  in  succession  in- 
stead of  being*  dispersed  over  the  round. 
Sandwich  is  rather  like  Prestwick, 
except  that  the  hazards  are  even  more  for- 
midable. There  are  two  short  holes  in  the 
first  half  round  which  may  be  reached  in  one 
stroke.  These  are  the  sixth  and  the  eighth 
—  perhaps  the  best  short  holes  in  existence 
except  for  the  fact  that  they  are  both  blind 
holes.  The  eigfhth  hole  resembles  the  fifth 
at  Prestwick  in  that  it  usually  entails  the 
use  of  a  driver  to  surmount  the  tremendous 
bunker,  which  is  well  named  Hades.  Be- 
sides these  short  holes  there  are  two,  the 
third  and  the  fifth,  which  may  very  nearly 
be  reached  in  one  gxx>d  drive,  and  the  sec- 
ond only  requires  a  short  approach ;  so  that 
the  outward  journey  is  comparatively  easy 
from  the  point  of  view  of  distance.  The 
leng-th  of  the  carries,  however,  makes  up 
for  the  deficiency  in  the  total  distance,  and 
only  very  excellent  play  will  account  for  a 
score  below  forty  for  the  first  nine  holes. 
In  the  second  half  round  there  are  two  easy 


206  Other  Courses. 

holes,  the  eleventh  and  the  sixteenth,  but 
the  rest  are  long-  enough  to  balance  the 
shortness  of  the  first  nine,  and  it  is  almost 
as  easy  to  go  below  forty  for  the  first  half 
round  as  it  is  to  improve  upon  forty-five 
for  the  second. 

It  is  better,  perhaps,  if  possible,  to  dis- 
tribute your  distances  evenly  between  the 
two  half  rounds,  but  the  natural  lie  of  the 
ground  must  be  considered  as  well,  and  I 
doubt  very  much  whether  the  present 
course  at  Sandwich  could  be  improved  upon 
anywhere  in  the  world.  The  turf  upon  some 
of  the  courses  in  the  west  of  Scotland  is 
better,  and  the  distances  at  St.  Andrews 
are  more  perfect.  But  there  is  something 
about  the  enormous  hazards  and  the  con- 
stant variety  of  the  great  South  of  England 
course  which  makes  it  a  source  of  infinite 
joy  to  the  good  player,  even  if  it  is  less 
popular  among  the  weaker  brethren. 

In  laying  out  an  eighteen-hole  course 
you  may  imitate  any  one  of  these  three 
links  with  advantage.  For  a  nine-hole 
course,  take  St.  Andrews  and  copy  either 
the  outward  or  the  inward  holes;  there  is 
very  little  difference  between  them  in  point 
of  length;  only  you  will  have  to  alter  the 
arrangement  of  your  holes  so  as  not  to  have 
the  three  shortest  in  succession. 


Improvement  of  the  Ground.    207 

The  Improve-  When  once  your  distances  are 
ment  of  the  settled,  you  may  set  to  work 
Ground.  upon  the  ground  itself. 

Hazards  may  be  inserted  at  any  time, 
and  it  is  rather  a  mistake  to  cut  up  the 
ground  hurriedly  before  you  know  exactly 
where  your  bunkers  are  required.  > 
Rolling.  Your  first  object  should  be  to  get 
the  turf  all  through  the  course  in  perfect 
condition.  If  your  land  has  been  lying-  fal- 
low for  several  years,  your  grass  is  proba- 
bly sufficiently  strong-  to  stand  a  heavy 
steam  roller.  You  will  find  it  less  expens- 
ive to  invest  in  the  machine  at  once  rather 
than  waste  time  and  money  in  working- with 
a  horse  roller,  which,  in  wet  weather,  does 
almost  as  much  harm  as  it  does  g-ood.  Sea- 
side courses  and  those  which  are  situated 
in  temperate  climates,  hardly  require  such 
drastic  treatment.  But  on  most  of  the  in- 
land courses  of  America  which  suffer  from 
the  severe  frosts  in  winter,  a  steam  roller 
will  be  found  invaluable.  From  three  to 
five  tons  is  the  best  weig-ht,  and  the  width 
of  the  roller  should  be  as  great  as  possible. 
Roll  the  whole  course  as  soon  as  the  frost 
is  fairly  out  of  the  ground,  but  beware 
against  repeating-  the  process  too  often. 
One  good  rolling  in  the  spring  ought  to  last 
a  whole  season. 


208  Grass  Cutting. 

Grass  Cutting.  As  soon  as  your  grass  begins 
to  grow  you  will  find  it  impossible  to  keep 
it  under  control,  if  your  soil  is  at  all  rich, 
without  the  help  of  a  mowing-  machine. 
Most  courses  must  be  shaved  close  at  least 
once  a  week  during-  the  early  summer 
months,  and  that  entails  a  considerable 
amount  of  labor.  But  there  is  no  other 
way  of  meeting-  the  difficulty.  Of  all 
faults  in  a  links  there  is  none  more  aggra- 
vating- and  more  conducive  to  the  ruin  of 
the  g-ame  than  long-  grass  in  the  reg-ular 
course.  It  is  only  excusable  in  front  of  the 
tee  to  punish  a  topped  drive,  and  even  there 
it  should  be  kept  short  enoug-h  to  avoid  a 
waste  of  time  in  looking-  for  balls.  Sheep 
are  often  recommended  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping-  the  grass  down ;  but  no  quantity 
of  them  will  have  a  visible  effect  on  an  in- 
land course  in  June,  provided  that  your 
grass  is  in  a  healthy  condition.  And  sheep 
are  such  a  nuisance  in  other  ways  that  it  is 
better  to  give  them  up  entirely,  and  rely 
upon  your  lawn  mowers.  Possibly  you  may 
lose  thereby  in  the  matter  of  revenue,  but 
it  must  always  be  remembered  that  golf 
and  husbandry  are  distinct  pursuits. 
The  Putting  If  your  turf  must  be  in  perfect 
Greens.  condition  through  the  ordinary 
gourse,  much  more  must  your  putting 


Mowing  Machines.  209 

greens  be  flawless.  If  possible  they  should 
be  made  out  of  the  original  sod,  with  all  the 
natural  undulations  intact.  In  many  cases, 
however,  it  is  necessary  to  relay  them  with 
fresh  turf;  and  if  that  is  done,  great  care 
should  be  exercised  in  order  that  they  may 
not  be  absolutely  flat  and  square.  Noth- 
ing adds  so  much  to  the  enjoyment  of  the 
game  as  a  certain  variety  in  the  shape  and 
contour  of  the  different  greens.  Some 
should  be  on  high  ground,  others  in  hol- 
lows. A  few  should  be  on  the  side  of  hills, 
provided  that  the  slope  is  very  gentle;  an 
occasional  plateau  may  be  selected,  but  in 
that  case  the  green  should  not  be  too  small. 
In  size  they  should  vary,  but  they  should 
never  have  a  radius  of  less  than  forty  feett 
Mowing  The  excellence  of  your  put- 

Machines,  ting  greens  depends,  to  a  large 
extent,  upon  the  kind  of  mowing  machine 
you  possess.  The  ordinary  Philadelphia 
lawn  mower  of  common  use  does  not  cut 
the  grass  close  enough  for  golfing  purposes, 
and  so  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  special  ma- 
chine made,  with  the  same  width  of  blade 
but  with  smaller  wheels,  so  that  the  knife 
may  be  brought  closer  to  the  ground.  This 
slight  change  in  the  implement  will  make 
all  the  difference  between  good  and  bad  put- 
ting- greens. 


2io  Water. 

Water.  Finally,  you  must  have  a  water  sup- 
ply available  at  each  green.  The  actual 
amount  of  water  to  be  used  varies,  of  course, 
with  the  differences  in  climate.  But  there 
are  very  few  parts  of  the  United  States 
where  nature's  water  supply  may  not  be 
supplemented  with  considerable  advantage, 
and  there  are  a  great  many  regions  where 
g-olf  is  out  of  the  question  on  any  other 
terms. 

In  making-  your  plans  for  a  complete 
water  system,  there  is  only  one  thing-  to  re- 
member. Green  committees  are  apt  to  take 
an  averag-e  rainfall  as  their  basis,  and  imag-- 
ine  that  four  inches  a  month — which  would 
be  a  larg-e  allowance  from  heaven  in  any 
elimate — is  more  than  sufficient  when  sup- 
plied by  artificial  means.  One  inch  a  week 
would  certainly  be  ample  for  the  purpose  if 
it  were  distributed  in  cloudy  weather,  just 
as  nature  gives  her  moisture.  But  an  arti- 
ficial supply  is  only  needed  in  warm,  dry 
weather,  when  the  evaporation  is  tremen- 
dous. Consequently,  what  would  be  accept- 
able from  nature  will  not  nearly  answer  the 
purpose  when  it  comes  from  a  well. 

What  you  actually  need  depends  entirely 
upon  your  climatic  conditions.  But  it  may 
be  useful  to  point  out  that  on  courses  in  the 


Water.  2 1 1 

west  it  is  not  at  all  too  liberal  to  calculate 
upon  a  basis  of  half  an  inch  a  day  during 
July  and  August.  That,  of  course,  is  for 
the  putting-  greens  alone.  Generally  speak- 
ing-, no  attempt  is  made  to  water  the  whole 
course.  And  yet  there  is  no  reason  why 
even  this  task  should  not  be  undertaken  in 
regions  where  golf  is  almost  entirely  ruined 
by  the  droug-ht  of  the  western  summer. 
Granted  that  your  water  system  is  ade- 
quate for  the  purpose  of  keeping-  your  put- 
ting- greens  in  g-ood  condition,  it  would  re- 
quire no  great  expenditure  to  increase  the 
supply  and  so  be  in  a  position  to  sprinkle 
your  whole  course  once  or  even  twice  a 
week.  Of  course  the  sprinkling-  must  be  a 
thorough  one,  to  have  the  desired  effect,  but 
there  are  numberless  courses  west  of  the 
Alleg-hanies  which  would  be  improved  five 
hundred  per  cent  in  the  hot  weather  by  the 
outlay.  In  fact,  an  entirely  satisfactory 
water  system  would  make  the  whole  differ- 
ence between  playing-  g-olf  and  playing-  some 
other  inferior  game. 

I  do  not  imagine  that  there  is  any  course 
in  the  east  which  requires  this  hydrogenic 
treatment;  yet  even  there  a  good  supply 
of  water  can  do  no  harm,  and  will  very 
gften  prove  enormously  beneficial, 


212  Hazards. 

Hazards.  It  only  remains  to  speak  of  the 
various  hazards  which  may  be  inserted  in  a 
course  when  the  turf  has  been  put  in  per- 
fect condition.  Once  more  let  me  repeat 
that  all  obstructions,  such  as  trees,  ditches, 
boulders  and  quarries,  so  often  spoken  of 
with  pride  as  natural  hazards,  should  at  all 
costs  be  removed.  The  ideal  way  to  go  about 
making-  an  inland  links  is  to  get,  first  of  all, 
about  two  hundred  acres  of  undulating-  pas- 
ture land  without  a  sing-le  obstruction  or  ex- 
crescence of  any  sort.  There  is,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  no  such  thing-  as  a  natural  hazard 
upon  an  inland  course,  unless  it  be  a  stream 
or  a  pond  of  water.  Having1  g-ot  your  wide 
stretch  of  turf,  which  should  be  as  smooth 
as  velvet  in  every  part,  you  may  then  put 
in  all  the  sand  bunkers  you  require;  for 
sand  bunkers  are  the  only  hazards,  with 
the  exception  of  water,  which  should  be 
allowed  under  any  circumstances.  Long- 
grass  may  grow  off  the  course  to  punish 
wild  driving-,  and  in  some  cases  it  may  be 
left,  as  explained  above,  in  front  of  the  tee. 
In  cutting-  your  bunkers  do  not  be  afraid 
to  make  them  large  and  varied  in  shape. 
Most  inland  greens  are  spoiled  by  the  fact 
that  the  hazards  are  not  big  enough  to  catch 
all  the  missed  balls  which  go  in  their  direc- 


Hazards.  213 

tion.  Do  not  forget,  moreover,  that  in 
many  cases  the  hazard  should  stretch  from 
the  edge  of  the  teeing-  ground  to  a  distance 
of  a  hundred  yards  or  more,  so  that  a 
missed  drive  must  positively  bring-  its  pun- 
ishment. A  bunker  is  very  little  g-ood  un- 
less it  is  thirty  feet  wide,  or  is  guarded  by 
a  high  face.  Whenever  you  see  a  ball  jump 
a  bunker  which  lies  across  the  line  of  fire, 
you  may  take  note  of  it,  and  if  the  same 
accident  repeats  itself  often,  you  should  set 
to  work  at  once  and  widen  your  bunker. 
In  making  your  hazards  it  is  best  to  choose 
spots  which  are  naturally  suited  to  the 
purpose,  such  as  hollows  in  the  ground  or 
hillsides;  a  regular  line  of  cops  set  down  on 
a  flat  surface  present  the  appearance  of 
military  earthworks  and  add  neither  to  the 
beauty  of  the  landscape  nor  the  variety  of 
the  game. 

In  guarding  your  putting  greens,  do  not 
always  put  a  straight  bunker  right  in  front 
of  the  man  who  is  approaching.  Some 
greens  should  be  protected  in  that  way, 
others  should  be  between  hazards,  a  few 
should  be  entirely  surrounded,  and  hardly 
any  should  be  absolutely  free.  It  is  a  good 
plan  also  to  have  at  least  one  or  two  holes 
where  the  bunkers  are  so  close  that  the 


Hazards. 

approach  must  be  played  with  a  certain 
amount  of  back  spin.  On  most  American 
courses  the  greens  are  either  so  small  and 
keen  that  no  mortal  man  can  pitch  his  ball 
on  them  and  keep  it  there,  or  else  they  are 
so  larg-e  and  free  from  bunkers  that  the 
veriest  duffer  can  loft  on  to  them  with  ease. 
The  happy  medium  has  not  yet  been 
struck.  Of  course  every  green  should  not 
be  too  closely  g-uarded,  but  a  few  out  of 
the  eig-hteen  should  certainly  call  for  a  dis- 
play of  skill  in  administering-  back  spin. 
And  in  order  to  bring-  about  this  end,  your 
greens  must  be  keen.  Provided  that  your 
water  supply  is  adequate  and  your  grass  is 
strong-  it  is  quite  impossible  to  make  an  in- 
land green  too  keen.  As  long-  as  you  keep 
your  turf  watered  every  nig-ht  in  warm 
weather,  you  may  cut  the  grass  as  short  as 
possible,  and  yet  not  make  your  putting-  and 
approaching-  too  difficult.  The  expense  of 
making-  bunkers  on  inland  courses  is  natur- 
ally larg-e.  For  that  reason  it  is  particu- 
larly desirable  that  you  should  g-o  boldly  to 
work  at  first  upon  your  hazards  and  make 
them  of  a  proper  size.  A  bunker  thirty 
feet  wide  will  stop  most  topped  balls,  but 
that  is  practically  the  minimum.  Many  of 
them  should  be  considerably  larger. 


Summary.  215 

Summary.  These,  then,  are  the  main  thing's 
to  bear  in  mind,  and  I  may  repeat  them 
shortly  as  follows: 

For  the  purpose  of  making-  an  eig-hteen- 
hole  course,  look  out  first  for  at  least  two 
hundred  acres  of  the  best  pasture  land, 
provided  that  you  cannot  g-et  the  g-enuine 
g-olf  land  by  the  sea.  Avoid  a  clay  soil. 

Make  your  course  seventy-five  yards 
wide  at  every  hole  and  remove  every  tree, 
ditch  and  stone  from  its  surface. 

Locate  your  putting-  greens  first  with 
reg-ard  to  natural  situation,  and  then  model 
your  distances  upon  the  St.  Andrews  links 
in  Scotland.  Roll  your  course  every  spring-, 
and  keep  it  close  cut  with  mowing-machines 
in  summer.  Make  your  putting-  greens  as 
perfect  as  the  abundant  use  of  water  and 
the  mowing-  machine  will  permit. 

Let  all  your  hazards  be  sand  bunkers, 
with  the  addition  of  a  water  hazard  if  nature 
supplies  it. 

Make  your  bunkers  larg-e  and  varied  in 
shape  —  you  cannot  make  them  too  larg-e  — 
and  g-uard  all  your  putting-  greens  either 
on  one  or  upon  every  side. 


S  T      ANDRE 


216 


217 


.9* 


OJ 

CD 


0 

z 


218 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  GAME  IN  AMERICA. 

IF  the  courses  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic 
fall  far  short  of  perfection,  it  must  still 
be  remembered  that  they  are  situated  for 
the  most  part  in  regions  where  the  average 
Briton  would  have  despaired  of  ever  mak- 
ing" golf  a  possibility;  and  yet  they  do,  in 
many  cases,  present  a  very  fair  test  of  the 
game. 

The  Iraprove=  And  so  the  apotheosis  of  the 
meat  of  Inland  inland  course  maybe  regarded 
Courses.  as  one  Qf  ^Q  great  features  of 

the  development  of  golf  in  America  up  to 
the  present  time.  The  genius  of  the  Amer- 
ican people  is  naturally  inclined  toward 
haste  and  impatience.  That  is  why  so 
many  links  in  this  country  have  been  laid 
out  in  such  a  way  that  they  will  have  to  be 
entirely  remodeled  from  the  very  beginning 
before  they  can  rank  in  the  first  class.  On 
the  other  hand,  when  the  true  idea  ot  the 
game  is  thoroughly  grasped,  there  is  no 
obstacle  great  enough  to  prevent  speedy 
success  in  the  perfecting  of  the  unpromis- 

219 


220  The  Governing  Body. 

ing-  material  at  hand.  If  New  York  and 
Chicago  were  suddenly  transported  to  the 
desert  of  Arabia,  I  have  not  a  doubt  that 
they  would  in  the  space  of  twelve  months  be 
surrounded  by  a  circle  of  excellent  golf 
courses.  You  have,  as  a  rule,  merely  to 
point  out  to  an  American  Green  Committee 
that  a  certain  thing  is  necessary,  and  you 
may  count  upon  getting  it.  And  for  that 
reason  we  have  inland  courses  in  America 
which  come  within  measurable  distance  of 
some  of  the  best  seaside  links. 
The  Governing  The  organization  of  the  game 
Body.  is  also  a  peculiarity  of  its  growth 

in  the  States.  Golf  has  been  played  in 
Scotland  from  time  immemorial,  and  yet 
there  has  never  been  a  governing  body 
which  has  had  anything  more  than  a  pre- 
scriptive right  to  control  the  national  laws 
and  practice  of  the  game.  The  committee 
of  the  Royal  and  Ancient  Club  at  St.  An- 
drews has  gradually  assumed  the  reins  of 
government,  not  from  any  desire  to  usurp 
authority,  but  simply  because  no  other 
method  of  control  seemed  practicable.  If 
there  had  been  as  many  clubs  in  England 
twenty-five  years  ago  as  there  were  in 
Scotland,  and  if  the  interest  in  the  game 
had  been  at  all  evenly  distributed,  there 
would  have  been  no  difficulty  in  instituting 


The  Governing  Body.  221 

some  kind  of  national  administration.  But 
as  it  was,  there  were  few  good  players  in 
Great  Britain  who  were  not  members  of 
the  Royal  and  Ancient  Golf  Club,  and  it 
would  have  been  manifestly  absurd,  or  at 
least  very  unnecessary,  to  suggest  that  the 
St.  Andrews  committee  was  not  perfectly 
competent  to  do  all  that  was  required  in  the 
way  of  government. 

Moreover,  national  associations  have 
never  been  recognized  as  the  ruling  princi- 
ple of  English  sport.  The  government  of 
the  game  of  golf  having  been  gradually 
thrust  upon  the  St.  Andrews  club,  it  grew 
more  and  more  impossible  to  organize  any 
national  committee  in  the  face  of  the  con- 
servative element.  The  case  of  the  Mary- 
lebone  cricket  club  was  cited  to  support  the 
rule  of  a  single  club  as  against  the  control 
of  a  national  association.  And  so,  in  one 
way  and  another,  the  constitution  of  the 
game  as  it  at  present  exists  became  crystal- 
lized. A  step  in  the  direction  of  a  national 
committee  was  made  some  ten  years  ago 
when  the  Hoylake  Club  instituted  the  ama- 
teur championship  tournament,  but  the 
time  had  gone  by  when  the  organization  of 
such  a  committee  upon  democratic  lines 
was  possible.  In  the  first  place,  only  a  few 
cfthe  many  clubs  in  the  country  were 


222  The  Governing  Body. 

represented;  and  secondly,  the  delegates 
sent  to  choose  the  course  for  the  decision 
of  the  next  championship,  were  powerless 
to  assume  authority  upon  any  other  subject. 

And  so,  for  better  or  for  worse,  the  St. 
Andrews  Club  has  become  the  M.  C.  C.  of 
golf,  and  all  hopes  of  a  general  committee 
seem  at  present  exceedingly  remote  —  ex- 
cept, indeed,  on  such  terms  as  would  rob 
the  institution  of  half  its  value  as  a  repre- 
sentative body. 

It  must  not  be  imagined  for  a  moment 
by  those  who  know  golf  only  as  it  is  played 
in  America,  that  this  apparently  hap-hazard 
kind  of  government  has  been  detrimental 
to  the  development  of  the  game.  There 
are  two  distinct  sides  to  the  question;  and 
it  may  be  asserted  with  great  safety  that 
the  game  would  have  suffered  enormously 
in  the  past  if  the  influence  of  St.  Andrews 
had  not  been  predominant.  There  is  no 
game  in  the  world  which  admits  of  so  much 
ignorance  upon  the  part  of  its  players  as 
golf.  And  if,  ten  or  fifteen  years  ago,  men 
who  had  only  pursued  the  gutta  percha  in 
the  wilds  of  Tooting-Bec  or  the  Cowley 
marshes  at  Oxford  had  been  allowed  the 
same  vote  in  the  control  of  the  game  as  the 
first-class  players  of  St.  Andrews,  the  re- 
sults would  have  been  most  disastrous. 


United  States  Golf  Association.  223 

At  the  same  time,  golf  has  now  reached  a 
point  in  England  and  Scotland,  where  the 
mists  of  ignorance  have  been  widely  dissi- 
pated, and  the  moment  has  arrived  when 
the  formation  of  a  national  association 
would  in  all  probability  be  most  beneficial. 
But  in  the  meantime  St.  Andrews  has  the 
power,  and  why  should  she  relinquish  it? 
Philanthropic  bimetallists  are  fond  of  ask- 
ing England  to  abandon  her  gold  standard. 
Those  who  make  a  similar  request  of  St. 
Andrews  find  themselves  in  much  the  same 
predicament.  Their  theory  is  excellent,  but 
what  inducement  have  they  got  to  offer? 
There  is  the  dilemma;  and  we  have  to 
thank  our  stars  of  good  fortune  that  we  had 
no  such  difficulty  to  face  when  the  game 
became  popular  in  America.  The  idea  of 
the  national  association  had  become  fixed 
in  the  minds  of  all  sportsmen  in  this  coun- 
try by  its  success  in  other  branches  of  ath- 
letics, and  there  was  no  traditional  influence 
to  overcome. 

The  United  On  the  other  hand,  there  was 

States  Golf  a  very  serious  danger  that 
Association.  American  players,  with  their 
half  digested  notions  of  golf  and  their 
knowledge  of  most  inferior  courses,  should 
go  about  to  make  some  very  radical  changes 
in  the  rules  and  practice  of  the  game.  In 


THE  LATE  THEODORE  A.   HAVEMEYER 
First  President  U.  S.  G.  A. 


224 


United  States  Golf  Association.  225 

fact,  a  tendency  in  that  direction  was  no- 
ticeable when  a  rule  was  made  that  a  ball 
might  be  lifted  and  teed  in  match  play  as 
it  may  be  in  playing-  a  medal  competition. 
Here  at  the  outstart  was  a  direct  blow  at 
the  ruling  principle  of  match  play — which 
is  the  real  game  of  golf — that  the  ball  must 
be  played  wherever  it  lies,  unless  it  be  in 
water.  The  new  rule  has  since  been  re- 
scinded, and  no  farther  attempt  has  been 
made  to  alter  the  St.  Andrews  rules  as  they 
stand. 

The  only  reason  why  this  danger  has 
been  averted  is  that  a  national  association 
was  formed  before  any  havoc  could  be  cre- 
ated, and  a  committee  elected,  composed  of 
men  who  had  the  best  interests  of  the  game 
at  heart.  The  first  president  was  the  late 
Theodore  A.  Havemeyer,  of  whose  services 
to  golf  and  to  amateur  sport  in  general  it 
is  hard  to  speak  dispassionately.  It  is  sel- 
dom that  a  man  of  affairs,  whose  adminis- 
trative powers  have  been  developed  in  the 
control  of  a  great  corporation,  is  willing  to 
devote  a  large  share  of  his  time  and  care  to 
the  interests  of  a  game.  When  this  admin- 
istrative ability  is  combined  with  the  most 
lovable  characteristics  of  a  gentleman  and 
a  sportsman,  it  will  be  understood  that  the 


226  United  States  Golf  Association. 

National  Golf  Association  was  extraordina- 
rily fortunate  in  the  selection  of  its  first 
president.  By  his  recent  death,  every  golf 
player  in  this  country  sustained  a  great  and 
irreparable  loss.  But  in  the  two  years  of 
his  control  he  was  able  to  place  the  govern- 
ing* body  upon  so  firm  and  immovable  a 
basis,  and  his  influence  was  so  strong1  in 
preserving-  the  true  spirit  of  the  game,  that 
even  his  untimely  departure  could  not  spoil 
the  complete  value  of  his  work.  There  is 
but  little  doubt  that  had  a  weaker  hand  been 
at  the  helm  during-  the  young-  days  of  the 
association,  many  radical  chang-es  might 
have  been  made  in  the  rules  which  would 
have  made  a  gulf  between  the  American 
and  British  golfers,  and  in  the  end  might 
have  been  found  entirely  unnecessary.  As 
it  is,  nothing  has  been  done  which  could 
offend  the  most  conservative  spirit,  nor  is 
any  action  likely  to  be  taken  in  the  future 
which  will  bring  about  a  development  of  the 
game  along  divergent  lines  in  the  two  coun- 
tries. 

It  would  be  beyond  the  scope  of  the 
present  work  to  dwell  upon  the  merits  of 
the  men  who,  as  members  of  the  executive 
committee,  assisted  Mr.  Havemeyer  in  his 
good  work  ;  and  yet  one  word  must  be  said 


MR.      H.      O.     TALLMADGE 
First  Secretary  If.  S.  G.  A. 


227 


228  United  States  Golf  Association. 

in  passing-  recognition  of  the  services  done 
to  golf  in  this  country  by  Mr.  Charles  B. 
Macdonald,  whose  energy  of  purpose  and 
fine  instinct  for  the  best  points  in  the  game 
have  constituted  him  the  arch-pioneer  of 
golf  in  America;  by  Mr.  Henry  O.  Tall- 
madge,  the  most  indefatigable  of  secreta- 
ries; by  Mr.  Laurence  Curtis,  whose  clear 
judgment  proved  invaluable  in  preparing 
the  new  edition  of  the  rules;  and  by  Mr.  Par- 
rish,  who  would  certainly  be  elected  treas- 
urer for  life  if  he  could  only  be  induced  to 
take  the  office. 

The  attitude  assumed  by  these  men  in 
the  government  of  the  association  must 
have  come  in  the  way  of  a  revelation  to  all 
British  players,  who  are  apt  to  have  precon- 
ceived notions  on  the  subject  of  American 
rashness  and  scorn  for  tradition.  Not  only 
has  the  spirit,  but  even  the  letter  of  the 
game  been  preserved  with  the  most  scru- 
pulous care ;  and  yet  at  the  same  time  new 
suggestions  have  been  admitted  of  such 
excellent  propriety  that  even  in  the  short 
space  of  three  years  American  golfers  have 
been  able  to  offer  hints  upon  which  the 
more  inert  and  less  organized  body  of  play- 
ers in  Great  Britain  will  be  compelled  to 
act. 


s  W 


230     Championship  Tournaments. 

TheChampion=  The  conduct  of  the  amateur 
shipTourna=  championship  meeting-  was  the 
meets.  first  instance  of  the  advantage 

of  bringing-  common  sense  to  bear  upon  the 
subject.  The  system  has  still  to  undergo 
a  slight  revision  before  it  can  be  called  per- 
fect, but  the  essential  principles  of  the 
arrangement  are  incontrovertibly  correct. 
The  weeding-out  process  is  so  simple  that 
when  it  is  once  sugg-ested,  one  wonders 
why  it  was  never  introduced  before.  Not 
only  is  it  absolutely  fair  to  every  one,  but  it 
requires  that  the  champion  shall  show  at 
least  a  certain  skill  in  medal  play,  which, 
after  all,  is  a  department  of  the  g-ame.  In 
the  second  place,  it  will  obviate  in  large 
measure  the  luck  of  the  draw.  As  things 
at  present  exist  in  Great  Britain,  a  good 
player  may  go  through  one  or  two  rounds 
without  the  slightest  exertion,  if  he  is  for- 
tunate in  coming  against  weak  opponents. 
Under  the  American  system  he  has  to  work 
for  his  position  from  the  drop  of  the  flag. 
He  must  play  first-class  golf  for  two  rounds 
of  medal  play  in  order  to  qualify  at  all,  and 
then  he  will  have  to  meet  in  each  round  a 
foeman  who  is  worthy  of  his  steel ;  for 
among  the  first  sixteen  who  earn  the  right 
to  compete  there  can  be  very  few  who  have 
not  a  g-ood  chance  of  winning-  outright. 


Championship  Tournaments.     231 

At  least  one  or  two  changes  will  in  all 
probability  shortly  be  made  in  the  rules  of 
the  contest.  In  the  first  place,  all  the 
match  play  rounds  will  consist  of  thirty-six 
holes.  Heretofore  only  eighteen  holes  were 
played,  until  the  final  round,  and  there  was 
always  a  chance  of  a  fluke  victory  ;  when 
every  match  is  decided  by  playing-  thirty- 
six  holes,  the  element  of  luck  is  almost  en- 
tirely eliminated.  Secondly,  it  is  proposed 
in  future  to  draw  the  first  eight  of  the 
sixteen  against  the  second  eight  for  the 
first  match  play  round,  so  that  it  will  be 
impossible  for  a  weak  player  to  get  into 
the  finals;  and  also  there  will  be  a  further 
inducement  for  the  best  players  to  return 
as  good  a  card  as  possible.  Upon  this  inno- 
vation I  need  not  lay  so  much  stress.  It 
happens  that  at  present  in  America  there 
are  not  sixteen  players  of  equal  merit, 
and  there  is  likely  to  be  a  difference  of  at 
least  a  third  of  a  stroke  a  hole  between 
the  first  and  the  last  of  the  sixteen.  In  a 
year  or  two,  however,  the  number  of  first- 
class  players  will  have  increased  so  enor- 
mously that  it  will  be  impossible  to  name 
one  of  the  first  sixteen  who  has  not  a  good 
chance  of  winning,  and  so  the  division  of 
the  draw  would  be  unnecessary. 

But  granted  that  the  first  of  these  im- 


232     Championship  Tournaments. 

provements  is  determined  upon,  I  cannot 
see  how  the  arrangement  of  the  contest 
can  possibly  be  bettered.  The  tournament 
will  last  five  days,  however  large  the  entry 
may  be ;  all  the  bad  players  will  be  removed 
from  the  field  after  the  first  day;  the  win- 
ner must  play  five  matches  of  thirty-six 
holes  each,  including-  the  preliminary  medal 
round;  there  can  be  no  possible  chance  of 
a  lucky  draw;  and  the  man  who  finally  be- 
comes champion  will  have  earned  the  title 
by  sheer  superiority  of  skill  and  endurance. 
So  much  for  the  amateur  championship. 
This  means,  of  course,  that  the  open  event 
must  be  played  on  a  separate  occasion.  So 
far  that  contest  has  been  robbed  of  nearly 
all  its  interest  by  being-  thrown  in,  as  it  were, 
at  the  end  of  the  tournament,  which  is  mani- 
festly hard  upon  the  professionals,  whose 
play,  under  the  circumstances,  attracts 
very  little  attention;  and  unfair  to  the  ama- 
teurs, who  cannot  be  expected  to  do  them- 
selves justice  after  the  wear  and  tear  of 
their  own  competition.  It  is  only  right, 
moreover,  to  remark,  in  passing,  that 
American  amateur  form  has  been  slightly 
discredited  abroad  for  this  very  reason.  In 
the  championship  tournament  of  1897  the 
best  amateur  score  was  eleven  strokes  be- 
hind the  winning  score  of  163  made  by 


The  Rules.  233 

Lloyd;  and  it  is  argued  by  writers  on  the 
subject  in  England  that  the  amateurs  in 
America  are  therefore  considerably  behind 
amateurs  in  Britain  on  that  account.  The 
fact  is  undoubtedly  true,  but  not  to  the  ex- 
tent that  the  figures  would  show ;  simply  be- 
cause the  amateurs  in  Americahave  entered 
the  open  contest,  up  to  the  present  time, 
merely  as  a  matter  of  custom,  without  the 
slightest  chance  of  displaying-  their  best 
form.  Lloyd's  score  of  163  was  an  exceed- 
ingly fine  one,  considering  the  length  of  the 
course;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  in 
the  same  week,  under  stress  of  greater 
heat,  the  first  three  returns  for  the  Chicago 
cup  were  81,  82  and  83,  the  latter  score  be- 
ing made  by  Mr.  J.  A.  Tyng,  an  American 
player  of  only  three  years'  standing.  To  be 
perfectly  just  to  the  professionals,  I  would 
say  that  only  one  or  two  of  them  show  any 
superiority  whatever  over  the  best  ama- 
teur form,  and  that  both  amateurs  and  pro- 
fessionals are  from  three  to  four  strokes 
behind  their  colleagues  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Atlantic. 

The  Rules.  To  return  from  this  digression, 
let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the  question  of 
the  rules  of  the  game.  It  is  here  that 
the  American  association  has  an  enor- 
mous advantage  over  the  governing  body 


234  The  Rules. 

at  St.  Andrews.  With  all  possible  respect 
and  love  for  the  Royal  and  Ancient  home 
of  the  game,  I  am  constrained  to  assert, 
having-  the  broad  Atlantic  between  me  and 
the  niblicks  of  those  who  will  gainsay  me, 
that  the  various  codes  of  rules  sanc- 
tioned by  the  members  of  the  club  from 
time  to  time  are  monuments  of  judicial  in- 
efficiency. The  fact  is  that  the  ordinary 
Scotch  player  who  has  been  born  and  bred 
in  the  atmosphere  of  the  game  has  no  need 
of  a  written  code  at  all.  He  plays  the  game 
by  instinct  and  as  the  spirit  guides  him. 
That  is  precisely  the  reason  why  the  old 
fashioned  St.  Andrews  player  was  of  neces- 
sity incompetent  to  draw  up  rules  for  the 
guidance  of  those  who  did  not  play  by  pre- 
cedent rather  than  precept.  What  might 
be  abundantly  clear  to  him,  knowing  the 
practice  and  tradition,  would  probably  be 
most  obscure  to  the  Englishman  and  Amer- 
ican. That  this  is  the  case  has  been  proved 
conclusively  by  the  voluminous  rulings  and 
interpretations  made  by  Messrs.  Ruther- 
ford and  Lockyer;  and  yet  their  work  left 
an  enormous  field  for  discussion  upon 
points  which  they  did  not  even  touch.  Of 
course  it  is  impossible  to  make  the  rules  of 
the  game  absolutely  sufficient  for  the  pur- 
pose; but  there  is  a  wide  gulf  between  such 


The  Rules.  235 

a  state  of  perfection  and  the  condition  of 
thing's  as  they  now  exist.  A  careful  study 
of  the  latest  code  of  rules  will  convince  any 
unprejudiced  person  that  there  are  very 
few  which,  even  to  the  experienced  golfer, 
may  not  bear  various  meaning's,  and  sev- 
eral which,  if  carried  to  their  legitimate 
conclusion,  are  manifestly  absurd.  For- 
tunately the  United  States  Golf  Association 
has  been  able  to  issue  a  book  of  ruling's  and 
interpretations  which  does  not  altogether 
do  away  with  the  incongruities  of  the  orig- 
inal code,  but  does  at  least  settle  a  number 
of  disputed  points.  In  Great  Britain  this 
course  was  out  of  the  question  because  ob- 
viously the  Royal  and  Ancient  club,  having 
issued  its  edict,  could  not,  without  appear- 
ing ridiculous,  publish  an  explanation  of  the 
same.  Messrs.  Rutherford  and  Lockyer's 
work  might  have  been  of  some  assistance, 
but  it  was  without  authority,  and  could  not 
really  be  quoted  in  defense  of  any  argu- 
ment. The  United  States  Golf  Association 
were  very  careful  not  to  alter  a  single  word 
in  the  text  of  the  St.  Andrews  rules,  and  in 
this  respect  they  acted  very  wisely.  The 
interpretations  in  many  cases  answer  the 
purpose  of  a  new  rule,  and  in  the  meantime 
we  may  hope  for  a  new  and  better  code 
from  the  committee  which  has  recently 


236  The  Hazard  Rule. 

been  appointed  by  the  Royal  and  Ancient 
Golf  Club. 

The  Hazard  A  full  discussion  of  the  weak- 
Rule-  nesses  of  the  rules  as  they  exist 

would  be  neither  possible  nor  desirable  at 
present.-  But  one  example  may  be  taken  as 
the  text  of  a  few  remarks  upon  the  subject. 
The  hazard  rule  as  it  stands  is  the  worst  of 
all  the  St.  Andrews  regulations.  It  may,  of 
course,  be  interpreted  in  such  an  extreme 
way  as  to  make  the  game  ridiculous.  But 
even  when  taken  in  the  broadest  and  most 
legitimate  sense,  its  provisions  are  so  unfair 
that  here  the  interpretation  of  the  executive 
committee  is  tantamount  to  a  new  rule.  Ac- 
cording- to  the  law  as  it  stands  by  itself,  any 
player  who  touches  sand  in  a  bunker  while 
addressing  the  ball  is  disqualified  in  medal 
play.  Consequently,  supposing  that  a  com- 
petitor for  the  amateur  championship  in 
America,  or  the  open  championship  abroad, 
were  blown  over  by  a  gust  of  wind  while 
aiming  at  the  ball,  or  should  for  any  other 
reason  rest  his  club  inadvertently  upon  the 
sand,  he  would  at  once  be  removed  from  the 
contest.  Such  a  rule  defeats  its  own  ends, 
because  it  is  never,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
adhered  to,  especially  in  the  case  of  bent 
and  gorse.  The  interpretation  made  by  the 
association  is  probably  as  satisfactory  as 


The  Hazard  Rule.  237 

anything-  could  be  under  the  circumstances. 
But  why  should  not  the  rule  be  altered  and 
made  more  simple?  First  of  all,  nothing 
but  sand  or  loose  earth  should  be  regarded 
as  a  hazard.  That,  of  course,  was  the  orig- 
inal  intention  of  the  rule.  It  is  only  in 
sand  or  loose  earth  that  the  player  can 
possibly  obtain  any  unfair  advantage  by 
grounding-  his  club,  or  by  moving-  loose 
obstacles.  There  is  no  possible  reason  why 
a  loose  stone  should  not  be  removed  when 
the  ball  is  lying-  in  a  gorse  bush  if  it  is 
allowable  to  remove  one  in  the  fair  green. 
There  is  a  very  definite  reason  why  a  simi- 
lar obstacle  should  not  be  removed  in  a 
bunker;  because  it  is  impossible  to  say  in 
many  cases  where  stones  become  small 
enough  to  be  considered  part  of  the  sand. 
But  on  a  g-ood  links  there  should  be  no 
stones  whatever  in  any  hazard,  so  that  the 
break  club  question  need  hardly  arise. 

First  of  all,  then,  confine  your  hazards  to 
sand  and  loose  earth,  and  you  will  not  only 
simplify  matters,  but  you  will  be  conform- 
ing in  reality  with  the  true  spirit  of  the 
game.  Secondly,  make  it  a  case  for  dis- 
qualification, or  the  loss  of  the  hole,  when  a 
player  deliberately  removes  anything  in  a 
bunker  within  a  given  radius  of  his  ball.  If 
a  man  is  foolish  enough  to  break  the  rules 


238  The  Hazard  Rule. 

in  a  deliberate  way,  he  deserves  any  punish- 
ment which  may  be  meted  out  to  him.  But 
for  grounding-  the  club  unintentionally  or 
intentionally  behind  the  ball  in  the  act  of 
addressing-  it  the  penalty  of  a  stroke  is  quite 
sufficient.  No  one,  however  expert  he  may 
be,  can  calculate  upon  improving-  the  lie  of 
his  ball  in  addressing-  it  sufficiently  to  war- 
rant the  loss  of  a  stroke,  and  the  rule  about 
intentional  removal  of  obstacles  would  still 
prevent  him  from  deliberately  scraping- 
away  the  sand  with  his  club. 

A  rule  written  on  these  lines  would  pro- 
vide ample  punishment  for  carelessness, 
and  it  would  also  g-uard  ag-ainst  the  success 
of  those  players  —  and  there  are  a  few  of 
them  —  who  are  always  anxious  to  take 
everv  inch  of  rope  that  the  law  will  concede. 

This  is  only  one  case  out  of  a  great  many 
where  it  is  easy  to  suggest  a  g-ood  rule 
where  the  founders  of  the  code  seem  to  have 
gone  out  of  their  way  to  make  a  bad  one. 
Instances  mig-ht  be  multiplied  if  necessary. 
My  main  object  at  present  is  to  show  what 
advantag-es  may  accrue  from  the  govern- 
ment of  an  executive  committee  which  is 
entirely  national  in  its  interests,  which  is 
not  hampered  by  any  uncertainty  about  its 
authority  or  any  traditions  of  the  past,  and 
which,  above  all,  is  a  thoroughly  represen- 


Club  Matches.  239 

tative  body.  The  members  of  the  execu- 
tive committee  are  chosen  not  with  refer- 
ence to  the  club  they  represent,  but  on  ac- 
count of  their  personal  fitness.  There  is 
only  one  criticism  to  be  made  upon  the  con- 
stitution of  the  association,  and  that  ap- 
plies to  the  distinction  between  allied  and 
associate  members,  a  distinction  which 
seems  to  have  no  very  good  raison  cTetre, 
and  will  in  all  probability  be  removed  in  the 
near  future. 

Club  There  is  another  development 

Matches.  of  the  game  in  this  country  in  the 
direction  of  increased  interest  in  club 
matches,  which  has  both  advantages  and 
disadvantages.  Golf  has  never  been  re- 
garded as  a  game  for  team  matches  in  the 
past;  it  never  can,  from  the  very  nature  of 
things,  be  regarded  in  that  light  in  the 
future.  There  is  absolutely  no  scope  for 
team  work  in  these  encounters  between 
clubs,  and  so,  at  best,  they  can  only  be 
taken  as  an  excuse  for  friendly  gatherings. 
Looked  at  from  that  point  of  view,  they  are 
entirely  unobjectionable,  and  very  often 
most  enjoyable.  Yet  there  is  a  certain 
danger  in  them,  especially  in  America, 
which,  however  slight,  ought  to  be  carefully 
guarded  against.  So  far  golf,  both  here 
and  in  Great  Britain,  has  been  free  from 


240       Benefit  of  Better  Courses. 

any  taint  of  semi-professionalism;  and  very 
naturally  so,  because  it  has  always  been 
regarded  as  a  game  for  individual  amuse- 
ment. Amateur  championships  are  inven- 
tions of  recent  date,  and  club  matches 
would  probably  never  have  crept  into  prac- 
tice if  it  had  not  been  for  the  inter-univer- 
sity contests  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge. 

It  is  easily  understood  that  where  a  man 
plays  for  his  own  amusement  the  element 
of  semi-professionalism  cannot  exist;  but  as 
soon  as  club  rivalry  is  introduced  the  in- 
ducement to  resort  to  questionable  methods 
becomes  a  factor  in  the  game.  It  is  very 
hard  for  golfers  in  England  and  Scotland  to 
understand  that  such  a  danger  can  exist, 
because  they  have  never  looked  upon  club 
rivalry  as  a  determining  feature  of  the  sit- 
uation. Here  in  America  the  spirit  of  com- 
petition is  so  keen  in  every  walk  of  life  that 
it  is  just  as  well  to  face  the  danger  at  the 
outset  and  make  provision  against  it;  for  it 
would  be  a  thousand  pities  if  the  disease 
which  has  infected  both  football  and  base- 
ball should  spread  into  golf. 
The  Benefit  Possibly  the  best  way  of  deal- 
of  Better  ing  with  the  subject  is  for  the 
Courses.  association  to  take  absolutely  no 
cognizance  of  club  matches ;  in  that  way  the 
club  match  may  still  be  a  source  of  enjoy- 


Benefit  of  Better  Courses.       241 

ment  without  becoming-  a  matter  of  public 
interest.  And  in  the  second  place,  I  am 
confident  that  the  gradual  improvement  in 
the  various  courses  all  over  the  country 
will  make  g-olf  more  and  more  desirable  for 
its  own  sake,  and  not  for  the  glory  or  re- 
wards which  at  present  give  it  a  spurious 
value.  There  is  not  a  doubt  that  inferior 
courses  lead  to  a  multiplying  of  competi- 
tions of  every  kind,  because  interest  must 
be  stimulated  in  every  way  to  make  up  for 
the  defects  in  the  g-ame  itself.  It  is  an  in- 
variable rule  that  the  better  the  links  the 
fewer  are  the  competitions.  This  arg-u- 
ment  applies  not  only  to  the  hunting-  after 
prizes,  but  in  a  minor  degree  to  club 
matches.  If  your  course  is  a  g-ood  one  you 
will  g-et  far  more  enjoyment  out  of  a  week's 
g-ood  match  play  than  from  any  number  of 
official  events. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

AMATEURS  ABROAD. 

THERE  have  been  so  many  discussions 
of  a  somewhat  futile  nature  upon  the 
relative  merits  of  British  and  American 
players,  that  it  may  be  interesting-  to  know 
exactly  how  golfers  in  America  rank  with 
the  experts  on  the  other  side  of  the  water. 
As  I  have  already  pointed  out,  the  conclu- 
sions which  might  be  drawn  from  the  re- 
sults of  the  amateur  and  open  competi- 
tions held  in  this  country  during-  the  last 
three  years  are  manifestly  unfair  to  the 
amateurs,  for  the  very  simple  reason  that 
the  amateurs  have  never  yet  met  the  pro- 
fessionals on  even  terms.  And  had  they 
done  so,  it  must  be  remembered thatLloyd's 
score  of  163  at  Wheaton  in  the  champion- 
ship tournament  of  1897  compares  very 
favorably  with  the  winning  scores  over  such 
courses  as  Hoylake  and  Muirfield,  which 
are  certainly  two  strokes  easier  than  the 
course  of  the  Chicago  golf  club;  and  it  is 
not  so  many  years  ago  that  no  amateur  in 
Great  Britain  was  expected  to  come  within 


244  Amateurs  Abroad. 

ten  strokes  of  the  first  place  in  the  open 
event. 

As  far  as  I  can  judge,  it  is  impossible  to 
compute  the  difference  between  first-class 
form  here  and  in  Scotland  or  England  by  a 
definite  number  of  strokes.  The  class  in 
America  is  so  exceedingly  small  that  the 
results  attained  are,  comparatively  speak- 
ing, most  indifferent.  And  yet  the  class 
exists  and  must  be  judged  on  its  merits. 
The  difference  really  consists  only  in  the 
matter  of  steadiness  and  confidence  in  tour- 
nament play.  Mr.  Charles  Macdonald  may 
be  taken  as  a  typical  example  of  the  first- 
class  American  amateur.  His  record  for 
a  single  season  over  the  links  of  the  Chi- 
cago Golf  Club  at  Wheaton  is  almost  as 
good  as  that  of  any  Scotch  player  over 
the  links  of  St.  Andrews.  And  yet  in  tour- 
nament play  he  would  certainly  be  out- 
classed by  the  first  six  or  eight  amateurs 
who  are  sure  to  put  in  an  appearance  for 
any  great  event  in  Scotland.  It  may  seem 
strange  that  a  player  who  is  capable  of 
producing  an  invincible  game  on  ordinary 
occasions,  should  fail  when  skill  is  most 
called  for.  In  reality  the  explanation  is 
very  simple.  No  one  who  has  lived  in 
America  up  to  the  present  time  can  pos- 
sibly have  acquired  the  tournament  habit; 


Amateurs  Abroad.  245 

for  after  all,  the  ability  to  play  up  to  form  in 
important  events  is  not  entirely  a  matter  of 
nerve,  but  comes  in  great  measure  from 
long-  experience;  and  as  important  tourna- 
ments have  only  recently  been  instituted  in 
America  such  experience  is  entirely  out  of 
the  question.  The  only  difference  between 
the  first  class  proper  in  Great  Britain,  and 
the  much  larg-er  class  which  includes  the 
rank  and  file  of  those  who  are  placed  at 
scratch  in  the  handicap  list  of  the  Royal  and 
Ancient  Golf  Club,  lies  in  the  possession  of 
this  same  tournament  habit;  and  it  is  ex- 
ceedingly rarely  that  any  very  young-  player 
makes  his  way  into  the  real  aristocracy  of 
the  g-ame.  Even  when  he  does  he  is  not  by 
any  means  sure  to  keep"  his  position,  as  is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  Mr.  P.  C.  Anderson, 
one  of  the  young-est  of  amateur  champions, 
has  failed  to  live  up  to  the  honors  that  he 
won  a  few  years  ag-o. 

Mr.  F.  G.  Tait  was  considered  a  mere 
boy  when  he  captured  the  coveted  laurels  in 
1896;  but  he  was  twenty-five  years  of  ag-e, 
and  had  also  had  the  advantag-e  of  constant 
familiarity  with  the  best  players  from  the 
time  that  he  first  went  to  school.  The  real 
first  class  in  Great  Britain  is  confined  to 
those  members  of  the  big- brig-ade  who  went 
down  at  Muirfield  last  spring-  before  the 


MR.   F.  G.   TAIT  AND  TOM  MORRIS 


Photographed  by  R.W.  Haivks,  Edinburgh 
MR.    F.  G.   TAIT,   PLAYING  A  CLEEK  SHOT 
247 


MR.  A.   J.  T.  ALLEN,  PUTTING 

248 


Amateurs  Abroad.  249 

prowess  of  two  comparative  youngsters  in 
the  persons  of  Mr.  Robb  and  Mr.  Allen.  In 
spite  of  their  defeat,  they  are  still  the  lead- 
ing* figures  in  amateur  golf,  partly  on 
account  of  their  past  career,  and  partly 
because  they  are  sure  to  supply  most  of 
the  medal  winners  and  champions  for  some 
time  to  come. 

The  list  includes  the  names  of  Mr.  John 
Ball,  Mr.  J.  E.  Laidlay,  Mr.  Harold  Hilton, 
Mr.  F.  G.  Tait,  Mr.  Horace  Hutchinson, 
Mr.  Leslie  Balfour-Melville,  Mr.  Mure- 
Fergusson  and  the  Messrs.  Blackwell. 
To  these  we  must  add,  in  view  of  recent 
events,  the  names  of  Mr.  Allen  and  Mr. 
Robb. 

Take  these  men  and  a  few  others,  whom 
I  may  have  inadvertently  omitted,  from 
the  so  called  first  class  in  Great  Britain, 
and  I  do  not  think  that  there  are  any 
players  out  of  the  remainder  who  are  likely 
to  show  better  form  than  can  be  seen 
among  the  first-class  players  of  this  coun- 
try—  always  provided  that  the  term  first- 
class  as  applied  to  American  golf  really  ap- 
plies only  to  those  who  have  learned  their 
game  in  Scotland.  When  we  come  to  the 
average  scratch  player  in  American  clubs, 
such  as  Mr.  Fenn,  Mr.  Tyng,  and  a  host  of 
others  who  have  shown  skill  in  other 


250  Amateurs  Abroad. 

branches  of  athletics,  we  are  dealing-  with 
a  different  class  altogether,  composed  of 
men  who  would  rank  for  the  most  part 
with  the  converted  cricketers  of  England, 
such  as  Mr.  E.  Buckland,  Mr.  C.  Toppin, 
Mr.  Croome  and  many  others  who  have 
discarded  the  bat  in  favor  of  the  driver. 
These  players  are  rather  better  than  the 
reg-ular  second-class  performers  according 
to  the  old  system  of  division  when  the 
second  class  included  all  those  who  could 
play  Mr.  Laidlay  or  Mr.  Balfour-Melville 
with  a  third  of  a  stroke  a  hole.  The 
cricketing  contingent  can  do  better  than 
that,  and  yet  they  are  g-enerally  too  un- 
steady to  be  classed  even  with  the  ordinary 
scratch  players  at  St.  Andrews.  To  put  it 
shortly,  then,  I  should  place  our  first  class 
proper  on  the  same  level  as  the  averag-e 
scratch  players  of  St.  Andrews,  and  our 
best  native  talent  on  a  par  with  the  cricket- 
ers in  England.  What  the  precise  difference 
is  between  our  first  class  proper  and  the 
British  first  class  proper  is  still  an  uncer- 
tain quantity,  but  it  depends  a  great  deal 
upon  the  ability  of  men  of  the  Ball  and  Hil- 
ton class  to  play  their  best  game  when  it  is 
most  required. 

The  existence  of  this  special  class  in 
England  and  Scotland  is  only  of  recent  date, 


MR.   J.   E.  LAIDLAY 
251 


Photographed  by  R.  W.  Hawks,  Edinburgh 
MR.  J.   E.   LAIDLAY,   PUTTING 


Amateurs  Abroad.  253 

and  so  we  need  not  despair  of  making-  a 
similar  advance  in  this  country  before  many 
years  are  past.  The  improvement  in 
American  golf  courses  is  a  most  important 
factor  in  the  development  of  the  game;  but 
of  greater  weight  still  is  the  fact  that  our 
college  boys  are  only  now  beginning  to  take 
golf  seriously.  When  they  have  had  a  few 
more  years'  practice  the  limits  of  our  first 
class  will  be  enormously  extended;  for 
youthful  training  alone  can  produce  the 
very  best  players. 

Among  those  who  belong  to  the  inner 
circle  in  Great  Britain  there  is  no  more 
brilliant  and  successful  player  than  Mr. 
J.  E.  Laidlay.  The  only  distinction  which 
he  has  not  won  is  the  open  championship  of 
England  and  Scotland,  and  that  is  a  prize 
which  has  only  three  times  fallen  to  an 
amateur.  He  has  been  amateur  champion 
twice,  and  there  is  hardly  a  club  of  high 
standing  in  Scotland  which  does  not  claim 
him  as  a  medal  winner.  Mr.  Laidlay  never, 
perhaps,  attained  that  perfection  of  steadi- 
ness which  for  many  years  made  Mr.  John 
Ball  almost  invincible.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  is  accustomed  to  make  so  many  extra- 
ordinary recoveries  from  seemingly  hope- 
less situations  that  it  has  always  been  a 
great  treat  to  watch  his  game  in  an  im- 


254  Amateurs  Abroad. 

portant  match.  Not  only  is  he  marvelously 
effective  in  a  high  wind — a  thing  which  in 
itself  goes  far  to  distinguish  the  really  first- 
class  player  from  the  average  scratch  man, 
but  he  is  one  of  the  few  men  who  seem  able 
to  do  a  hole  of  almost  any  length  in  three 
when  circumstances  require  it. 

To  a  certain  extent  Mr.  Laidlay  had  for 
a  few  years  a  deteriorating  effect  upon  in- 
cipient golfers;  because  he  was  the  first 
great  player  to  adopt  the  method  of  driving 
off  the  left  leg.  For  several  years  he  had 
innumerable  imitators  who  could  easily  as- 
sume a  similar  position,  but  never  exhibited 
the  genius  necessary  for  making  it  success- 
ful. For  a  short  time,  indeed,  it  was  more 
common  to  see  examples  of  this  style  on 
the  links  than  the  older  St.  Andrews  fashion. 
The  fad  has  had  its  day  by  this  time,  and  it 
will  be  a  long  time,  in  all  probability,  before 
another  first-class  player  appears  with  so 
extreme  a  method.  It  may  be  equally  long 
before  we  meet  any  one  who  has  so  perfect 
a  control  over  his  iron  clubs. 

The  old  course  at  North  Berwick  has 
been  lengthened  and  improved  beyond 
recognition,  and  so  it  will  never  again  be 
possible  to  see  Mr.  Laidlay  negotiating  the 
many  short  holes  which  used  to  demand 
the  utmost  skill  in  iron  play.  There  was 


Amateurs  Abroad.  255 

every  kind  of  stroke  then,  from  a  full  cleek 
to  a  mashie  shot,  and  generally  it  was 
necessary  to  pitch  the  ball  upon  a  keen 
sloping-  green  surrounded  by  hazards.  No 
one  has  ever  surpassed  Mr.  Laidlay  at  this 
game,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  any  one 
ever  will  surpass  him.  Mr.  Ball's  full  cleek 
shots  are  a  marvel  to  all  beholders ;  Andrew 
Kirkcaldy  can  get  as  far  with  a  half  iron  as 
most  men  can  with  a  brassey,  and  Willie 
Campbell  in  his  day  was  the  greatest  expo- 
nent of  the  mashie.  But  no  player,  either 
amateur  or  professional,  has  such  a  perfect 
command  over  every  iron  club  in  the  set  as 
Mr.  Laidlay.  As  a  driver  he  is  brilliant, 
but  inclined  to  be  erratic  on  occasion,  a 
fault  which  gives  him  ample  opportunity  of 
displaying1  his  great  power  of  recovery. 
On  the  pu-tting  green  he  is  also  a  trifle  un- 
certain. Few  men  hole  a  greater  number 
of  long  puts  than  he,  and  yet  few  among 
the  first-class  players  miss  so  many  short 
ones.  In  this  respect,  at  least,  he  is  mortal, 
and  that  is  possibly  the  reason  that  he  has 
never  won  the  open  championship,  which  is 
decided  by  medal  play. 

Mr.  Ball  has  won  both  the  open  and  ama- 
teur championships,  the  latter  upon  four 
occasions,  and  is  also  so  fine  a  match  player 
that  he  must  be  ranked  as  the  most  sue- 


256  Amateurs  Abroad. 

cessful,  and  indeed  the  greatest  amateur 
golfer  of  the  day.  If  he  is  more  liable  to 
defeat  now  than  he  was  a  few  years  ago, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  general  form 
has  improved  wonderfully  of  late,  and  it 
would  be  impossible  for  any  one  to  main- 
tain for  very  long*  the  unique  position 
which  he  held  in  the  golfing  world  a  short 
time  ago.  Of  a  slight  but  wiry  frame,  he  is 
possessed  of  great  physical  strength  and 
endurance.  And  here  it  may  be  well  to 
remark  upon  the  fact  that  the  idea  which 
many  people  still  entertain  regarding  the 
amount  of  muscle  requisite  for  pre-eminence 
in  the  game  is  entirely  erroneous.  No  one 
could  call  Mr.  Ball,  or  Mr.  Laidlay,  or  Mr. 
Hilton  a  physical  giant;  but  they  are  all 
men  of  great  muscular  power  and  perfect 
health,  accustomed  to  an  abundance  of  out- 
door exercise.  Great  height  is  not  appar- 
ently of  any  particular  advantage,  although 
it  is  naturally  conducive  to  long  driving. 
The  Messrs.  Blackwell,  Mr.  Arnold  Blyth 
and  Mr.  Mure-Fergusson,  to  mention  no 
others,  are  instances  of  large,  power- 
ful men  who  excel  in  the  use  of  the  wooden 
club.  But,  after  all,  there  is  practically 
little  difference  between  the  driving  of 
the  most  powerful  player,  and  that  of  a 
man  like  Mr.  Hilton,  who  is,  comparatively 


MR.    JOHN    BALL 


258  Amateurs  Abroad. 

speaking-,  of  small  stature.  It  is  only  in 
the  case  of  Mr.  "Ted"  Blackwell  that  the 
added  distance  begins  to  tell.  Certainly  Mr. 
Ball  is  as  fine  a  driver  as  any  one  could  wish 
to  be,  and  he  probably  weighs  less  than  Mr. 
Hilton.  But  then,  he  is  a  man  of  iron  mus- 
cle, and  that  is  the  essential  thing.  A  weak 
player  may  drive  excellently  for  eighteen 
holes  or  so,  but  he  is  bound  to  tire  sooner 
or  later,  especially  when  any  strain  is  put 
upon  him.  Moreover,  he  is  very  apt  to  be 
short  with  his  iron  clubs.  Mr.  Ball  and  Mr. 
Hilton  can  drive  just  at  well  at  the  end  of 
four  days'  tournament  as  at  the  beginning, 
because  being-  naturally  endowed  with 
strength  of  limb,  they  always  have  some- 
thing in  reserve.  No  one  seeing-  Mr.  Hilton 
finishing-  his  fourth  round  in  the  open  event 
could  ever  imag-ine  that  he  had  exerted 
himself  at  all.  He  never  seems  to  drive  a 
very  long  ball,  and  what  is  more  curious,  he 
g-enerally  drives  rather  high.  Yet  when 
the  distance  is  actually  measured  he  is  just 
as  likely  to  be  ahead  of  a  long-  driving 
opponent  as  not. 

It  is  in  the  short  game  that  he  is  mostly 
to  be  feared.  When  the  average  scratch 
player  holes  a  ball  with  his  mashie  at  a 
distance  of  thirty  or  forty  yards,  the  feat 
is  looked  upon  as  an  egregious  fluke,  at 


260  Amateurs  Abroad. 

least  by  his  antagonists.  When  Mr.  Hil- 
ton takes  up  his  mashie,  you  are  never  quite 
sure  that  he  is  not  going-  to  finish  matters 
with  one  stroke  until  the  ball  stops  rolling. 
In  playing  for  the  open  championship  at 
Muirfield,  a  few  years  ago,  he  twice  holed 
the  ball  with  his  mashie  in  the  last  round, 
and  once  when  he  was  lying  almost  buried 
.in  a  rabbit  scrape.  That,  of  course,  was  an 
extraordinary  stroke  of  luck;  but  still  it  is 
not  exaggeration  to  say  that  when  he  does 
get  into  the  hole  with  a  short  approach  shot, 
it  is  not  always  to  be  regarded  as  a  mistake. 
One  curious  fact  about  Mr.  Hilton's  career 
is  that  he  has  twice  won  the  open  champion- 
ship, but  never  has  quite  succeeded  in  win- 
ning the  amateur  event.  This  inconsist- 
ency is  generally  laid  down  to  his  great 
steadiness  and  precision,  which  have  a  more 
telling  effect  in  compiling  a  score  than  in 
match  play.  And  yet  his  actual  figures  do 
not  show  this  extraordinary  steadiness. 
At  Muirfield  his  last  round  was  marvel- 
ously  low,  and  so,  too,  he  only  succeeded 
in  defeating  Mr.  F.  G.  Tait  at  Hoylake  in 
1897  by  accomplishing  the  last  eighteen 
holes  in  seventy-five  strokes.  The  fact  re- 
mains, however,  that  he  has  twice  defeated 
all  comers  in  the  open  field,  and  that  is  suf- 
ficient glory  to  last  any  amateur  a  lifetime. 


MR.  F.  G.  TAIT,  DRIVING 
261 


Photographed  by  R.  W.  Haw~ks,  Edinburgh 
MR.    F.  G.  TAIT,   DRIVING   . 
262 


Amateurs  Abroad.  263 

Mr.  Tait  has  come  nearer  equaling-  this 
feat  than  any  one  else,  because  twice  in 
succession  he  has  been  within  an  ace  of  se- 
curing- the  coveted  position;  so  that,  al- 
thoug-h  he  has  never  actually  won  the  open 
championship,  he  has  at  least  proved  him- 
self worthy  of  the  hig-hest  rank.  He  has 
never  won  his  spurs  easily,  for  he  had  sev- 
eral hard  fig-hts  for  the  amateur  champion- 
ship before  he  actually  came  to  the  front  in 
1896. 

In  nothing-  that  he  has  done,  therefore, 
has  he  been  in  any  way  indebted  to  fortune. 
In  fact,  there  is  no  player  at  the  present 
moment  whose  chances  for  any  event  would 
be  reckoned  higher  than  his.  He  won  the 
St.  Andrews  medal  at  a  very  early  ag-e,  but 
he  had  worked  hard  for  the  distinction. 
From  his  earliest  years  he  was  accustomed 
to  play  over  the  St.  Andrews  links,  and 
when  he  first  went  to  school  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  playing-  occasional  matches  with 
several  of  the  leading-  amateurs;  and  that 
is  a  privileg-e  which  very  few  boys  can  ex- 
joy.  Consequently  his  arrival  at  the  top  of 
the  ladder  was  constantly  expected,  and  in 
all  human  probability  he  is  bound  to  stay 
there  for  many  years  to  come.  His  apti- 
tude for  sports  is  another  proof  of  the  fact 
that  few  g-olfers  ever  reach  the  summit  of 


264  Amateurs  Abroad. 

their  ambition  who  are  not  blessed  with 
physical  advantages.  Mr.  Tait  was  a  good 
cricketer  at  school,  and  a  first-class  football 
player  at  Sandhurst,  and  what  is  still  more 
important,  there  is  not  a  fellow-sportsman 
in  any  branch  of  athletics  who  knows  him 
and  familiarly  calls  him  "Freddy,"  who 
has  not  also  the  greatest  admiration  for  his 
g-ood  qualities. 

But  of  all  g-olfers  in  the  world  the  most 
popular  is  Mr.  Horace  G.  Hutchinson,  who 
is  just  as  well  known  by  his  writing's  as  by 
his  successes  on  the  links.  Mr.  Hutchin- 
son was,  I  suppose,  the  first  Englishman 
who  ever  won  the  St.  Andrews  medal,  and 
the  mere  fact  that  he  could  do  such  a  thing-, 
and  still  retain  the  friendship  of  Scotch- 
men, speaks  volumes  in  his  favor.  When 
he  first  astonished  the  inhabitants  of  St. 
Andrews  by  the  marvelous  accuracy  of  his 
driving-,  he  was  one  of  the  most  dang-erous 
men  in  any  field.  Since  that  time  he  has 
been  a  victim  to  the  all-devouring-  epidemic 
of  influenza,  and  is  no  long-er  such  a  for- 
midable member  of  the  small  band;  but 
every  now  and  then  he  gives  the  public  a 
taste  of  his  old  quality,  and  when  that  is  the 
case,  the  victory  is  sure  to  be  a  popular  one. 
Few  men  are  his  superiors  to-day  on  the 


MR.  HORACE  G.  HUTCHINSON 


266  Amateurs  Abroad. 

field  of  battle ;  no  one  comes  near  him  in  the 
world  of  golfing-  literature.  From  the  time 
that  he  issued  his  first  little  work  upong-olf, 
which  in  itself  was  an  epitome  of  what  all 
such  books  should  be,  he  has  never  failed 
of  a  large  and  enthusiastic  audience.  The 
Badminton  book  is  almost  entirely  the  work 
of  his  pen,  and  to-day  it  is  the  only  great 
classic  upon  the  subject.  Times  have 
chang-ed  since  it  was  first  published,  and 
yet  there  is  very  little  of  practical  use  to 
the  g-olfer  which  he  cannot  find  there  to- 
day expressed  in  the  most  simple  and  read- 
able lang-uag-e. 

Mr.  Leslie  Balfour-Melville  is  another 
g-olfer  who  has  been  many  years  before  the 
public.  It  would  be  unkind  here  to  say 
how  many  years  ag-o  he  first  won  the  St. 
Andrews  medal;  and  indeed,  if  I  did  hunt 
up  the  date  in  the  book  of  the  Royal  and 
Ancient  Golf  Club,  no  one  after  seeing-  him 
would  believe  it.  Nothing-  could  have  been 
more  gratifying-  than  his  victory  in  the 
amateur  championship  of  1895.  Not  only 
did  it  come  as  a  well  merited  reward  to  one 
of  the  best  athletes  that  Scotland  has  ever 
produced,  but  it  served  to  show  that  none, 
or  at  least  very  few  of  us,  need  ever  despair 
of  developing-  a  really  first-class  g-ame,  even 
thoug-h  we  may  have  lived  long-  on  the 


MR.   LESLIE  BALFOUR-MELVILLE,   PUTTING 
267 


268  Amateurs  Abroad. 

shady  side  of  thirty.  Of  course  Mr.  Bal- 
four-Melville  had  a  great  deal  in  his  favor. 
He  has  always  been  a  successful  golfer, 
and  in  addition  has  done  more  for  Scotch 
cricket  than  any  other  player.  He  also 
won  laurels  on  the  football  field  in  his  col- 
lege days  and  is  an  expert  in  every  game 
that  he  takes  up.  But  that  does  not  alter 
the  astonishing"  fact  that  after  ranking 
among-  first-class  golfers  for  nearly  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century  he  is  still  able  to  defeat 
young;  and  old  alike  in  the  most  important 
event  of  the  year. 

Of  the  othergreat  players  volumes  might 
be  written,  but  a  few  words  must  suffice 
here  in  passing-  tribute  to  the  extraordinary 
g-ame  which  Mr.  "Ted"  Blackwell  has  de- 
veloped and  retained,  in  spite  of  many  suc- 
cessive years  spent  on  a  ranch  in  California 
without  any  chance  of  wielding  a  golf  club. 
Mr.  Blackwell  is,  with  the  probable  excep- 
tion of  Doug-las  Rolland,  the  only  player  of 
whom  one  can  positively  say  that  his  driv- 
ing- is  superior  to  that  of  the  average  first- 
class  golfer.  There  are  several  men  who 
rank  as  exceptionally  long  drivers,  but  put 
them  against  Mr.  Balfour-Melville  or  Mr. 
Hilton,  who  have  no  such  reputation,  and 
you  will  find  very  little  difference  in  the 
average  distance.  An  occasional  advant- 


MR.  E.   BLACKWELL 
269 


270  Amateurs  Abroad. 

age  of  ten  yards  is  really  of  very  small  value 
unless  it  is  constant.  With  Mr.  Blackwell 
it  is  not  a  question  of  ten  yards,  but 
more  generally  thirty  or  forty;  and  that  is 
heart  breaking-.  There  are  many  feats  of 
driving  which  have  been  handed  down  to 
golfing  history  in  illustration  of  Mr.  Black- 
well's  prowess.  The  most  remarkable  is 
perhaps  one  which  he  accomplished  at  St. 
Andrews  several  years  ago,  when  he  drove 
the  long  hole  at  St.  Andrews  in  two  shots 
each  way,  thus  proving  that  the  wind  had 
nothing  to  do  with  it.  On  another  occasion 
I  saw  him  drive  the  wall  hole  at  Prestwick 
in  two  shots  three  times  on  the  same  day. 
That  this  was  an  extraordinary  perform- 
ance may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  the 
actual  distance  which  has  to  be  covered  is 
over  four  hundred  yards,  with  a  wall  at  the 
end  of  it,  so  that  the  roll  of  the  second  shot 
cannot  be  taken  into  consideration.  More- 
over, the  hole  is  only  driven  in  two  upon 
rare  occasions  when  there  is  a  strong  wind 
in  favor  of  the  play.  On  this  particular  day 
Mr.  Blackwell  had  no  wind  behind  him  to 
speak  of;  and  twice  out  of  the  three  times 
he  used  only  an  iron  club  for  the  second 
shot.  That  is  the  kind  of  driving  that 
makes  a  difference.  Mr.  Blackwell  is  not 
above  the  average  in  his  short  game,  but 


Amateurs  Abroad.  271 

his  driving-  is  so  magnificent  that  he  can 
well  afford  a  few  missed  puts. 

It  would  be  peculiarly  interesting-  to  en- 
counter Mr.  Blackwell  upon  an  American 
links,  because  either  the  climate  here  is  in 
favor  of  long-  driving-  or  American  players 
drive  an  exceptionally  long-  ball.  Last  year 
Mr.  McCawley,  of  the  Philadelphia  Country 
Club,  won  a  long-  driving-  competition  with  a 
carry  of  two  hundred  and  eight  yards,  and 
that  with  hardly  any  wind  in  his  favor. 
Ag-ain  in  the  present  year  Mr.  H.  M.  Harri- 
man  came  in  first  with  a  carry  and  roll  of 
two  hundred  and  forty  yards  under  rather 
more  favorable  circumstances,  because  the 
ground  was  hard  and  level;  but  even  so  he 
had  only  a  slight  breeze  behind  him.  These 
fig-ures  are  absolutely  correct,  and  yet  they 
would  be  considered  exceedingly  hig-h  in 
Scotland.  Driving  is,  of  course,  the  easiest 
part  of  the  game  to  the  beginner;  and  yet 
it  is  consoling  to  know  that  in  this  respect, 
at  least,  we  are  not  behind  our  friends  in 
the  old  country. 


THE  RULES  OF  GOLF 

AS   REVISED   BY 

The    Royal    and    Ancient    Golf    Club 
of    St.    Andrews 

IN   1801 


With  Rulings  and  Interpretations  by  the 
Executive  Committee  of 

THE  UNITED  STATES  GOLF  ASSOCIATION 

IN    1897 


Preface 

At  a  meeting-  of  the  executive  committee 
of  the  United  States  Golf  Association,  held 
at  the  Shinnecock  Hills  Golf  Club  at  South- 
ampton, Long-  Island,  July  18,  1896,  it  was 
voted : 

"That  Mr.  C.  B.  Macdonald  and  Mr. 
Laurence  Curtis  be  appointed  a  special 
committee  to  interpret  the  rules  of  g-olf  and 
to  present  their  report  for  action  at  the 
annual  meeting-." 

Owing-  to  the  unexpectedamount  of  labor 
and  investigation  required,  the  committee 
were  unable  to  make  their  report  until  June 
10,  1897,  when  the  following  codification  of 
rules  and  ruling-s  was  duly  presented  to  the 
executive  committee  and  by  them  ratified 
and  ordered  to  be  promulg-ated  and  pub- 
lished as  the  law  of  the  United  States  Golf 
Association. 

The  special  committee  have  made  no 
chang-e  in  the  words  of  the  rules  as  they 
stand  in  the  code  of  the  Royal  and  Ancient 
Golf  Club  of  St.  Andrews,  revised  in  1891 ; 
but  they  have  appended  to  said  rules  the 

275 


276  Preface. 

ruling's  of  the  United  States  Golf  Associa- 
tion, based  upon  the  results  of  many  de- 
cisions of  committees  or  experts,  or  upon 
customs  which  have  obtained  in  the  best 
clubs  in  Scotland  and  England. 

They  hereby  acknowledg-e  with  thanks, 
assistance  and  advice  received  from  the  fol- 
lowing- authorities:  The  editor  of  "Golf," 
and  Messrs.  Horace  G.  Hutchinson,  Harold 
H.  Hilton,  Leslie  Balfour-Melville,  W.  T. 
Linskill,  H.  J.  Whig-ham  and  others. 

There  will  doubtless  be  found  many 
points  not  covered  in  this  work.  Such  are 
mostly  those  which  should  be  made  the  sub- 
jects of  local  rules,  or  such  as  may  be  con- 
sidered to  belong-  to  the  etiquette  of  gx>lf. 

Such  would  be  questions  as  to: 

Dropping-  a  ball  at  the  edg-e  of  a  hazard 
where  it  is  impracticable  to  drop  it  behind 
the  hazard.  (Rule  19  and  Medal  Rule  8.) 

Outsiders  looking-  for  a  lost  ball.  (Rule 
37.) 

Unplayable  balls  (Rule  38),  or  mud 
adhering-  to  a  ball. 

Discontinuing-  play  on  account  of  sudden 
severe  storms,  or  for  taking-  refreshments. 
(Rule  11,  Medal  Play.) 

Lifting-  balls  lying-  on  putting-  greens 
other  than  the  one  played  to. 

Casual  water  throug-h  the  fair  green. 


Preface.  277 

Boundaries,  walls,  fences,  gates,  rabbit 
holes,  g-opher  holes,  direction  flag's,  etc. 

Strict  definition  of  hazards  on  the  course. 

Liability  of  players  to  suffer  the  full 
penalty  when  their  caddies  commit  a  breach 
of  any  rule. 

Restraint  upon  single  players  practicing- 
on  the  course. 

Rig-ht  of  parties  with  caddies  to  pass 
parties  without  caddies,  or  a  single  to  pass 
a  foursome. 

Slow  or  inexperienced  players  blocking- 
the  course. 

String-ent  rules  for  keeping-  scores  in 
competitions. 

CHARLES  BLAIR  MACDONALD. 
LAURENCE  CURTIS. 


Rules 

RULE  1. 

The  game  of  golf  is  played  by  two  or 
more  sides,  each  playing  its  own  ball.  A 
side  may  consist  of  one  or  more  persons. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Two  sides  of  single  players  constitute  a 
match  called  a  "Single." 

Two  sides  of  two  players  each  constitute 
a  "Foursome,"  and  the  players  on  either 
side  are  called  "Partners." 
RULE  2. 

The  game  consists  in  each  side  playing 
a  ball  from  a  tee  into  a  hole  by  successive 
strokes,  and  the  hole  is  won  by  the  side 
holing  its  ball  in  the  fewest  strokes,  except 
as  otherwise  provided  for  in  the  rules.  If 
two  sides  hole  out  in  the  same  number  of 
strokes,  the  hole  is  halved. 

RULING   OF   THE  U.   S.   G.   A. 

"Match  Play"  is  decided  by  the  num- 
ber of  holes  won. 

"  Medal  Play  "  is  decided  by  the  aggre- 
gate number  of  strokes. 

278 


Rules.  279 

Unless  otherwise  stated,  a  match  shall 
consist  of  the  play  of  the  game  over  eighteen 
holes  of  the  links.  By  agreement  a  match 
may  consist  of  the  play  over  any  number 
of  holes. 

In  match  play,  the  player  plays  against 
an  "Opponent,"  and  opponents  have  cer- 
tain privileges  and  responsibilities  defined 
by  the  rules. 

In  medal  play  and  bogey  competitions 
the  players  are  all  "  competitors  "and  have 
special  privileges  (Medal  Rules  5,  6,  7  and 
8),  and  a  distinct  responsibility.  (Medal 
Rule  4.) 

"  Col.  Bogey  "  is  an  imaginary  opponent 
against  whose  arbitrary  score  each  player 
plays  by  holes;  otherwise  bogey  competi- 
tions are  governed  by  medal  play  rules, 
except  that  the  player  loses  a  hole: 

When  the  ball  is  struck  twice,  or  is 
stopped  by  the  player,  or  his  caddie,  or 
clubs; 

When  a  ball  is  lost; 

When  a  ball  is  not  played  wherever  it 
lies,  except  as  provided  for  in  Rules  17 

and  21. 

RULE  3. 

The  teeing  ground  shall  be  indicated  by 
two  marks  placed  in  a  line  at  right  angles 
to  the  course,  and  the  players  shall  not  tee 


280  Rules. 

in  front  of,  nor  on  either  side  of  these 
marks,  nor  more  than  two  club  leng-ths  be- 
hind them.  A  ball  played  from  outside  the 
limits  of  the  teeing-  ground,  as  thus  denned, 
may  be  recalled  by  the  opposite  side. 

The  hole  shall  be  four  and  one-quarter 
inches  in  diameter  and  at  least  four  inches 
deep. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.   S.   G.   A. 

The  penalty  for  playing-  the  ball  outside 
the  limits,  as  thus  denned,  shall  be: 

In  match  play,  the  ball  may  be  recalled 
by  the  opposite  side  (no  stroke  being- 
counted  for  the  misplay). 

In  medal  play,  the  ball  must  be  recalled 
(no  stroke  being-  counted  for  the  misplay)  or 
the  player  shall  be  disqualified. 

The  option  of  recalling-  a  ball  is  in  all 
cases  forfeited  unless  exercised  at  once  be- 
fore another  stroke  has  been  played. 
RULE  4. 

The  ball  must  be  fairly  struck  at  and 
not  pushed,  scraped  nor  spooned,  under 
penalty  of  the  loss  of  the  hole. 

Any  movement  of  the  club  which  is  in- 
tended to  strike  the  ball  is  a  stroke. 

RULING  OF   THE  U.    S.  G.  A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule: 
In  Match  Play,  loss  of  the  hole. 
In  Medal  Play,  disqualification. 


Rules.  281 

RULE  5. 

The  game  commences  by  each  side  play- 
ing- a  ball  from  the  first  teeing-  ground.  In 
a  match  with  two  or  more  on  a  side  the 
partners  shall  strike  off  alternately  from 
the  tees,  and  shall  strike  alternately  during 
the  play  of  the  hole. 

The  players,  who  are  to  strike  against 
each  other,  shall  be  named  at  starting  and 
shall  continue  in  the  same  order  during  the 
match. 

The  player,  who  shall  play  first  on  each 
side,  shall  be  named  by  his  own  side. 

In  case  of  failure  to  agree,  it  shall  be 
settled  by  lot  or  toss  which  side  shall  have 
the  option  of  leading. 

RULE  6. 

If  a  player  shall  play  when  his  partner 
should  have  done  so,  his  side  shall  lose  the 
hole,  except  in  the  case  of  the  tee  shot,  when 
the  stroke  may  be  recalled  at  the  option  of 
the  opponents. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule: 
In  Match  Play,  loss  of  the  hole. 
In  Medal  Play,  if  the  player  play  the  tee 
shot  when  his  partner  should  have  done  so, 
the  ball  must  be  recalled  (no  stroke  being 
counted  for  the  misplay)  or  the  side  shall  be 


282  Rules. 

disqualified.   If  a  player  play  when  his  part- 
ner should  have  done  so  throug-h  the  green, 
the  ball  shall  be  recalled  and  dropped,  and 
a  stroke  counted  for  the  misplay. 
RULE  7. 

The  side  winning-  a  hole  shall  lead  in 
starting-  for  the  next  hole,  and  may  recall 
the  opponent's  stroke  should  he  play  out  of 
order.  This  privileg-e  is  called  the  "  honor. " 

On  starting-  for  a  new  match  the  winner 
of  the  long-  match  in  the  previous  round  is 
entitled  to  the  honor.  Should  the  first 
match  have  been  halved,  the  winner  of  the 
last  hole  gained  is  entitled  to  the  honor. 

RULING   OF   THE  U.    S.   G.   A. 

In  Match  Play,  the  stroke  recalled  is  not 
counted. 

In  Medal  Play,  the  stroke  may  not  be 

recalled. 

RULE  8. 

One  round  of  the  links,  g-enerally  eig-h- 
teen  holes,  is  a  match,  unless  otherwise 
agreed  upon.  The  match  is  won  by  the  side 
which  g-ets  more  holes  ahead  than  there 
remain  holes  to  be  played,  or  by  the  side 
winning-  the  last  hole  when  the  match  was 
all  even  at  the  second  last  hole.  If  both 
sides  have  won  the  same  number,  it  is  a 
halved  match. 


Rules.  283 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

In  competitions: 

In  Match  Play,  when  two  competitors 
have  halved  their  match,  they  shall  continue 
playing-  hole  by  hole  till  one  or  the  other 
shall  have  won  a  hole,  which  shall  deter- 
mine the  winner  of  the  match. 

Should  the  match  play  competition  be  a 
handicap,  the  competitors  must  decide  the 
tie  by  playing  either  one  hole,  three  or  five 
more  holes,  according-  to  the  manner  in 
which  the  handicap  ceded  falls  upon  certain 
holes  so  as  to  make  the  g-ame  a  fairly  pro- 
portionate representation  of  the  round. 

In  Medal  Play,  where  two  or  more  com- 
petitors are  tied,  the  winner  shall  be  deter- 
mined by  another  round  of  the  course; 
except  that  By-Laws  15  and  19  of  the  United 
States  Golf  Association  provide  that,  in  case 
of  ties  for  the  sixteenth  place  in  the  Ama- 
teur Championship  medal  rounds,  or  the 
eig-hth  place  in  the  Women's  Championship 
medal  rounds,  respectively,  the  contestants 
so  tied  shall  continue  to  play  until  one  or  the 
other  shall  have  g-ained  a  lead  by  strokes, 
the  hole  or  holes  to  be  played  out. 

RULE  9. 

After  the  balls  are  struck  from  the  tee, 
the  ball  furthest  from  the  hole  to  which  the 


284  Rules. 

parties  are  playing-  shall  be  played  first, 
except  as  otherwise  provided  for  in  the 
Rules.  Should  the  wrong  side  play  first, 
the  opponent  may  recall  the  stroke  before 
his  side  has  played. 

RULING  OF   THE  U.    S.   G.   A. 

In  Match  Play,  no  stroke  is  counted  for 
the  misplay  if  recalled. 

In  Medal  Play,  the  stroke  may  not  be 

recalled. 

RULE  10. 

Unless  with  the  opponent's  consent,  a 
ball  struck  from  the  tee  shall  not  be 
changed,  touched  nor  moved,  before  the 
hole  is  played  out,  under  the  penalty  of  one 
stroke,  except  as  otherwise  provided  for  in 
the  Rules. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule: 

In  Match  Play,  loss  of  one  stroke. 
In  Medal  Play,  loss  of  one  stroke. 

RULE  11. 

In  playing-  through  the  green  all  loose 
impediments  within  a  club  length  of  a  ball, 
which  is  not  lying-  in  or  touching  a  hazard, 
may  be  removed;  but  loose  impediments 
which  are  more  than  a  club  length  from  the 
ball  shall  not  be  removed  under  penalty  of 
one  stroke. 


Rules.  285 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule: 

In  Match  Play,  loss  of  one  stroke. 
In  Medal  Play,  loss  of  one  stroke. 
Ice,  snow  and  hail  within  a  club  length 
of  the  ball  through  the  green  may  be  re- 
moved; but  on  the  putting  green  the  ice, 
snow  and  hail  may  only  be  removed  as  per 
Rule   34,    "  by   brushing    lightly   with    the 
hand  only  across  the  put,  and  not  along  it." 
RULE   12. 

Before  striking  at  the  ball  the  player 
shall  not  move,  bend  nor  break  anything 
fixed  or  growing  near  the  ball,  except  in 
the  act  of  placing  his  feet  on  the  ground  for 
the  purpose  of  addressing  the  ball,  and  in 
soling  his  club  to  address  the  ball,  under 
the  penalty  of  the  loss  of  the  hole,  except 
as  provided  for  in  Rule  18. 

RULING   OF   THE  U.    S.  G.  A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule: 

In  Match  Play,  loss  of  the  hole. 
In  Medal  Play,  disqualification. 
RULE   13. 

A  ball  stuck  fast  in  wet  ground  or  sand 
may  be  taken  out  and  replaced  loosely  in 
the  hole  which  it  has  made. 


286  Rules. 

RULE   14. 

When  a  ball  lies  in  or  touches  a  hazard, 
the  club  shall  not  touch  the  ground,  nor 
shall  anything-  be  touched  or  moved  before 
the  player  strikes  at  the  ball,  except  that 
the  player  may  place  his  feet  firmly  on  the 
ground  for  the  purpose  of  addressing-  the 
ball,  under  the  penalty  of  the  loss  of  the 
hole.  But  if  in  the  backward  or  in  the 
downward  swing-  any  grass,  bent,  whin  or 
other  growing-  substance,  or  the  side  of  a 
bunker  or  wall,  paling  or  other  immovable 
obstacle,  be  touched,  no  penalty  shall  be 
incurred. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule: 

In  Match  Play,  loss  of  the  hole. 

In  Medal  Play,  for  moving-  anything,  dis- 
qualification;  for  touching  anything,  loss  of 
one  stroke. 

The  intent  of  this  ruling  is  to  prevent 
the  player  from  altering  or  improving  the 
lie  of  the  ball. 

The  club  shall  not  be  soled,  nor  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground  be  touched  within  a 
radius  of  a  club  length  from  the  ball,  except 
that  the  player  may  place  his  feet  firmly  on 
the  ground  for  the  purpose  of  addressing 
the  ball;  but  nothing  herein  shall  be  con- 
strued as  allowing  a  player  to  test  in  any 


Rules.  287 

manner  the  consistency  of  the  sand  or  soil 
in  any  part  of  the  hazard,  under  penalty  of 
disqualification. 

When  a  ball  lies  on  turf  in  a  hazard  or 
surrounded  by  a  hazard,  it  shall  be  con- 
sidered as  being-  on  the  fair  green,  /.  e.,  the 
club  may  be  soled. 

RULE  15. 

A  "  hazard  "  shall  be  any  bunker  of 
whatever  nature — water,  sand,  loose  earth, 
mole  hills,  paths,  roads  of  railways,  whins, 
bushes,  rushes,  rabbit  scrapes,  fences, 
ditches,  or  anything-  which  is  not  the  ordi- 
nary green  of  the  course,  except  sand  blown 
on  to  the  grass  by  wind  or  sprinkled  on  the 
grass  for  the  preservation  of  the  links,  or 
snow  or  ice  or  bare  patches  on  the  course. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Long  grass  or  casual  water  on  the  fair 
green  are  not  hazards.  V/oods  are  hazards. 
The  fair  green  shall  be  considered  any  part 
of  a  course  except  the  hazards  and  putting 

greens. 

RULE   16. 

A  player,  or  a  player's  caddie,  shall  not 
press  down  nor  remove  any  irregularities 
of  surface  near  the  ball,  except  at  the  teeing 
ground,  under  the  penalty  of  the  loss  of  the 
hole. 


288  Rules. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule: 

In  Match  Play,  loss  of  the  hole. 

In  Medal  Play,  disqualification. 

"  Near  the  ball  "  shall  be  considered 
within  a  club  length. 

Pressing-  down  the  surface  near  the  ball 
by  prolonged  or  forcible  soling-  of  the  club 
shall  be  deemed  a  breach  of  this  rule. 
RULE  17. 

If  any  vessel,  wheelbarrow,  tool,  roller, 
grass  cutter,  box  or  other  similar  obstruc- 
tion has  been  placed  upon  the  course,  such 
obstruction  may  be  removed. 

A  ball  lying-  on  or  touching-  such  obstruc- 
tion, or  on  clothes  or  nets,  or  on  ground 
under  repair  or  temporarily  covered  up  or 
opened,  may  be  lifted  and  dropped  at  the 
nearest  point  of  the  course;  but  a  ball  lifted 
in  a  hazard  shall  be  dropped  in  a  hazard.  A 
ball  lying  in  a  golf  hole  or  flag  hole  may  be 
lifted  and  dropped  not  more  than  a  club 
length  behind  such  hole. 
RULE  18. 

When  a  ball  is  completely  covered  with 
fog,  bent,  whins,  etc.,  only  so  much  thereof 
shall  be  set  aside  as  that  the  player  may 
have  a  view  of  his  ball  before  he  plays, 
whether  in  a  line  with  the  hole  or  otherwise. 


Rules.  289 

RULING    OF    THE   U.    S.    G.   A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule: 
In  Match  Play,  loss  of  the  hole. 
In  Medal  Play,  disqualification. 
The  "etc."  in  this  rule  includes  grass, 
bushes,  plants,  hedg-es,  trees  and  foliag-e. 

RULE   19. 

When  a  ball  is  to  be  dropped  the  player 
shall  drop  it.  He  shall  front  the  hole,  stand 
erect  behind  the  hazard,  keep  the  spot  from 
which  the  ball  was  lifted,  or,  in  the  case  of 
running-  water,  the  spot  at  which  it  entered, 
in  a  line  between  him  and  the  hole,  and  drop 
the  ball  behind  him  from  his  head,  standing" 
as  far  behind  the  hazard  as  he  may  please. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule  : 

In  Match  Play,  if  the  ball  has  not  been 
dropped  in  strict  accordance  with  the  rule, 
the  opponent  has  the  option  of  having-  the 
ball  dropped  again. 

In  Medal  Play,  if  the  ball  has  not  been 
dropped  in  strict  accordance  with  the  rule, 
the  other  competitor  must  call  for  the  ball 
to  be  dropped  ag-ain,  and  the  player  must 
comply  or  be  disqualified. 

The  player  must  drop  the  ball  himself, 
not  his  caddie  nor  his  partner.  A  dropped 
ball  shall  not  be  considered  in  play  until  at 
rest. 


290  Rules. 

When  a  ball  is  lifted  from  a  hazard  and 
dropped  and  falls  back  into  the  hazard,  the 
player  may  lift  again  without  further  pen- 
alty. 

RULE  20. 

When  the  balls  in  play  lie  within  six 
inches  of  each  other,  measured  from  their 
nearest  points,  the  ball  nearer  the  hole  shall 
be  lifted  until  the  other  is  played,  and  shall 
then  be  replaced  as  nearly  as  possible  in  its 
original  position.  Should  the  ball  further 
from  the  hole  be  accidentally  moved  in  so 
doing-,  it  shall  be  replaced.  Should  the  lie 
of  the  lifted  ball  be  altered  by  the  opponent 
in  playing,  it  may  be  replaced  in  a  lie  near 
to,  and  as  nearly  as  possible  similar  to,  that 
from  which  it  was  lifted. 
RULE  21. 

If  the  ball  lie  or  be  lost  in  water,  the 
player  may  drop  a  ball  under  the  penalty  of 
one  stroke. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

When  the  ball  lies  in  casual  water  on  the 
putting-  green,  it  may  be  lifted  without  pen- 
alty and  replaced  by  hand  to  one  side  but 
not  nearer  to  the  hole. 

A  ball  in  water  in  a  hazard  may  be  lifted 
and  dropped  behind  the  water  or  hazard, 
under  penalty  of  one  stroke. 


Rules.  291 

RULE   22. 

Whatever  happens  by  accident  to  a  ball 
in  motion,  such  as  its  being-  deflected  or 
stopped  by  any  agency  outside  of  the  match, 
or  by  the  forecaddie,  is  a  "  rub  of  the 
green,"  and  the  ball  shall  be  played  from 
where  it  lies.  Should  a  ball  lodge  in  any- 
thing- moving-,  such  ball,  or,  if  it  cannot  be 
recovered,  another  ball,  shall  be  dropped  as 
nearly  as  possible  at  the  spot  where  the  ob- 
ject was  when  the  ball  lodg-ed  in  it.  But  if 
a  ball  at  rest  be  displaced  by  any  ag-ency 
outside  the  match,  the  player  shall  drop  it, 
or  another  ball,  as  nearly  as  possible  at  the 
spot  where  it  lay.  On  the  putting-  green 
the  ball  may  be  replaced  by  hand. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.    A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule: 
In  Match  Play,  loss  of  the  hole. 
In  Medal  Play,  disqualification. 
Wind   and    weather    are    not  agencies 

"outside  the  match." 

RULE   23. 

If  the  player's  ball  strike,  or  be  accident- 
ally moved  by,  an  opponent  or  an  opponent's 
caddie  or  clubs,  the  opponent  loses  the  hole. 

RULING    OF   THE  U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  incurred: 

In  Match  Play,  loss  of  the  hole. 


292  Rules. 

In  Medal  Play,  no  penalty. 

If  the  player's  ball  strike  the  other  com- 
petitor or  his  caddie  or  clubs,  it  is  a  "rub 
of  the  green,"  and  the  ball  shall  be  played 
from  where  it  lies.  If  the  player's  ball 
at  rest  be  accidentally  or  intentionally 
moved  by  the  other  competitor  or  his  caddie, 
the  ball  must  be  replaced. 
RULE  24. 

If  the  player's  ball  strike  or  be  stopped 
by  himself  or  his  partner  or  either  of  their 
caddies  or  clubs,  or  if,  while  in  the  act  of 
playing,  the  player  shall  strike  the  ball 
twice,  his  side  loses  the  hole. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule: 

In  Match  Play,  loss  of  the  hole. 
In  Medal  Play,  loss  of  one  stroke. 
RULE  25. 

If  the  player,  when  not  making  a  stroke, 
or  his  partner  or  either  of  their  caddies, 
touch  their  side's  ball,  except  at  the  tee,  so 
as  to  move  it,  or  by  touching  anything  cause 
it  to  move,  the  penalty  is  one  stroke. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.    A. 

Penalty  incurred: 
In  Match  Play,  loss  of  one  stroke. 
In  Medal  Play,  loss  of  one  stroke. 


Rules.  293 

Except  at  the  tee,  if  the  ball  move  while 
the  player  is  addressing-  it,  the  player  loses 
one  stroke. 

Except  at  the  tee,  if  the  ball  be  struck 
while  moving-,  the  penalty  is  one  stroke,  i.  £., 
one  stroke  for  the  moving-  and  one  stroke 
for  the  play. 

Except  at  the  tee,  if  struck  at  while  mov- 
ing-and  missed,  one  stroke  shall  be  counted 
for  the  moving-  and  another  for  the  miss. 

RULE   26. 

A  ball  is  considered  to  have  been  moved 
if  it  leave  its  original  position  in  the  least 
degree  and  stop  in  another;  but  if  a  player 
touch  his  ball  and  thereby  cause  it  to  oscil- 
late, without  causing-  it  to  leave  its  original 
position,  it  is  not  moved  in  the  sense  of 

Rule  25. 

RULE  27. 

A  player's  side  loses  a  stroke  if  he  play 
the  opponent's  ball,  unless:  (1)  the  oppo- 
nent then  play  the  player's  ball,  whereby 
the  penalty  is  canceled,  and  the  hole  must 
be  played  out  with  the  balls  thus  exchanged; 
or  (2)  the  mistake  occur  through  wrong  in- 
formation given  by  the  opponent,  in  which 
case  the  mistake,  if  discovered  before  the 
opponent  has  played,  must  be  rectified  by 
placing  a  ball  as  nearly  as  possible  where 
the  opponent's  ball  lay. 


294  Rules. 

If  it  be  discovered  before  either  side  has 
struck  off  at  the  tee  that  one  side  has 
played  out  the  previous  hole  with  the  ball 
of  a  party  not  engaged  in  the  match,  that 
side  loses  the  hole. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  mle: 

1st,  Playing-  the  opponent's  ball  with 
exceptions  (1)  and  (2)  above  noted  in  the 
Rule: 

In  Match  Play,  loss  of  one  stroke.  The 
ball  must  be  replaced. 

In  Medal  Play,  no  penalty.  The  ball 
must  be  replaced. 

2d.  Playing-  out  with  the  ball  of  a  party 
not  engaged  in  the  match : 

In  Match  Play,  if  discovered  before  the 
next  tee  stroke,  loss  of  the  hole. 

In  Medal  Play,  the  player  must  go  back 
and  play  his  own  ball,  or,  not  finding  it,  re- 
turn as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  spot  where 
it  was  last  struck,  tee  another  ball  and  lose 
a  stroke  (Rule  5,  Medal  Play),  or  else  be 

disqualified. 

RULE   28. 

If  a  ball  be  lost,  the  player's  side  loses 
the  hole.  A  ball  shall  be  considered  as  lost 
if  it  be  not  found  within  five  minutes  after 
the  search  is  begun. 


Rules.  295 

RULING    OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  incurred : 

In  Match  Play,  loss  of  the  hole. 

Where  both  balls  are  lost  at  the  same 
time,  neither  side  wins  the  hole,  which 
should  be  called  halved,  irrespective  of  the 
number  of  strokes  that  either  side  may 
have  played.  A  player  who  has  lost  his 
ball  may,  before  giving-  up  the  hole,  ask  the 
opponent  to  show  his  (the  opponent's)  ball. 

In  Medal  Play,  loss  of  one  stroke  and 
distance. 

The  player  must  return  as  nearly  as 
possible  to  the  spot  where  the  ball  was 
struck,  tee  another  ball  and  lose  one  stroke. 
But  if  the  ball  be  found  before  he  has 
struck  the  other  ball,  the  first  ball  shall 
continue  in  play. 

RULE  29. 

A  ball  must  be  played  wherever  it  lies, 
or  the  hole  given  up,  except  as  otherwise 
provided  for  in  the  Rules. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty : 

In  Match  Play,  loss  of  the  hole. 

In  Medal  Play,  loss  of  two  strokes,  and 
ball  may  be  teed. 

The  exceptions  are  provided  for  in 
Rules  17  and  21. 


296  Rules. 

RULE   30. 

The  term  "putting-  green"  shall  mean 
the  ground  within  twenty  yards  of  the  hole, 
excepting  hazards. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

If  a  hazard  be  within  the  twenty-yard 
limit  of  the  hole,  the  ground  outside  of  such 
hazard  may  not  be  considered  as  putting 
green,  even  though  it  be  within  the  twenty- 
yard  radius  from  the  hole. 

RULE  31. 

All  loose  impediments  may  be  removed 
from  the  putting  green,  except  the  oppo- 
nent's ball,  when  at  a  greater  distance 
from  the  player's  than  six  inches. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

In  Medal  Play,  on  the  putting  green,  the 
ball  nearer  the  hole  may  be  holed  out  or 
lifted  at  its  owner's  option  if  "it  be  in 
such  a  position  that  it  might,  if  left,  give 
an  advantage  to  the  other  competitor." 
(Rule  9,  Medal  Play.) 

RULE   32. 

In  a  match  of  three  or  more  sides  a  ball 
in  any  degree  lying  between  the  player  and 
the  hole  must  be  lifted,  or,  if  on  the  putting 
green,  holed  out. 


Rules.  297 

RULE   33. 

When  the  ball  is  on  the  putting-  green, 
no  mark  shall  be  placed  nor  line  drawn  as  a 
guide;  the  line  to  the  hole  may  be  pointed 
out,  but  the  person  doing-  so  may  not  touch 
the  ground  with  the  hand  or  club. 

The  player  may  have  his  own  or  his 
partner's  caddie  to  stand  at  the  hole,  but 
none  of  the  players,  nor  their  caddies,  may 
move  so  as  to  shield  the  ball  from,  or  expose 
it  to,  the  wind. 

The  penalty  for  any  breach  of  this  rule 
is  the  loss  of  the  hole. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule: 
In  Match  Play,  loss  of  the  hole. 
In  Medal  Play,  disqualification. 
The  putting-  line  shall  not  be  considered 

to  extend  beyond  the  hole. 

RULE  34. 

The  player  or  his  caddie  may  remove 
(but  not  press  down)  sand,  earth,  worm 
casts  or  snow  lying  around  the  hole  or  on 
the  line  of  his  put.  This  shall  be  done  by 
brushing  lightly  with  the  hand  only  across 
the  put,  and  not  along  it.  Dung  may  be  re- 
moved to  a  side  by  an  iron  club,  but  the 
club  must  not  be  laid  with  more  than  its 


298  Rules. 

own  weight  upon  the  ground.  The  putting 
line  must  not  be  touched  by  club,  hand  or 
foot,  except  as  above  authorized,  or  imme- 
diately in  front  of  the  ball  in  the  act  of 
addressing  it,  under  the  penalty  of  the  loss 
of  the  hole. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule: 

In  Match  Play,  loss  of  the  hole. 

In  Medal  Play,  disqualification. 

The  putting  line  shall  not  be  considered 
to  extend  beyond  the  hole. 

The  "  player  or  his  caddie  "  shall  include 
his  partner  and  his  partner's  caddie. 

RULE  35. 

Either  side  is  entitled  to  have  the  flag 
stick  removed  when  approaching  the  hole. 
If  a  ball  rest  against  the  flag  stick  when  in 
the  hole,  the  player  shall  be  entitled  to  re- 
move the  stick,  and,  if  the  ball  fall  in,  it 
shall  be  considered  as  holed  out  in  the  pre- 
vious stroke. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  for  putting  at  the  hole  with  the  flag 
stick  in  it  and  striking  the  flag  stick: 
In  Match  Play,  no  penalty. 
In  Medal  Play,  disqualification. 


Rules.  299 

RULE   36. 

A  player  shall  not  play  until  the  oppo- 
nent's ball  shall  have  ceased  to  roll,  under 
the  penalty  of  one  stroke.  Should  the 
player's  ball  knock  in  the  opponent's  ball, 
the  latter  shall  be  counted  as  holed  out  in 
the  previous  stroke.  If,  in  playing-,  the 
player's  ball  displace  the  opponent's  ball, 
the  opponent  shall  have  the  option  of  re- 
placing- it. 

RULING   OF    THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  under  this  rule; 

In  Match  Play,  loss  of  one  stroke. 

In  Medal  Play,  loss  of  one  stroke. 

Should  the  player's  ball  knock  in  the  op- 
ponent's ball: 

In  Match  Play,  the  latter  shall  be 
counted  as  holed  out  in  the  previous 
stroke. 

In  Medal  Play,  the  latter  must  be  re- 
placed. 

Should  the  player's  ball  displace  the  op- 
ponent's ball: 

In  Match  Play,  the  latter  shall  have  the 
option  of  replacing-  his  ball,  and  must  exer- 
cise such  option  at  once  and  before  any  fur- 
ther play. 

In  Medal  Play,  the  latter  must  replace 
his  ball. 


300  Rules. 

A  player  having-  holed  out  his  ball  in  the 
like  or  the  odd  may  knock  away  the  oppo- 
nent's ball  from  the  lip  of  the  hole  and  claim 
the  hole  if  he  had  holed  in  the  like,  or  a  half 
if  he  had  holed  in  the  odd. 
RULE  37. 

A  player  shall  not  ask  for  advice,  nor  be 
knowingly  advised,  about  the  game  by 
word,  look  or  gesture  from  any  one  except 
his  own  caddie  or  his  partner  or  partner's 
caddie,  under  the  penalty  of  the  loss  of  the 
hole. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule; 

In  Match  Play,  loss  of  the  hole. 

In  Medal  Play,  disqualification. 
RULE  38. 

If  a  ball  split  into  separate  pieces, 
another  ball  may  be  put  down  where  the 
largest  portion  lies ;  or  if  two  pieces  are 
apparently  of  equal  size,  it  may  be  put 
where  either  piece  lies,  at  the  option  of  the 
player.  If  a  ball  crack,  or  become  unplay- 
able, the  player  may  change  it  on  intimat- 
ing to  his  opponent  his  intention  to  do  so. 
RULE  39. 

A  penalty  stroke  shall  not  be  counted 
the  stroke  of  a  player,  and  shall  not  affect 
the  rotation  of  the  play. 


Rules.  301 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

A  " stroke"  is  any  movement  of  the 
club  which  is  intended  to  strike  the  ball. 
A  player  who  while  addressing-  his  ball  in- 
tentionally or  accidentally  causes  it  to  move, 
shall  be  considered  to  have  played  one 
stroke  (except  at  the  tee). 

A  "  penalty  stroke"  is  a  stroke  added  to 
the  score  of  a  side  for  infringing-  certain 

rules. 

RULE  40. 

Should  a  dispute  arise  on  any  point,  the 
players  have  the  rig-ht  of  determining-  the 
party  or  parties  to  whom  the  dispute  shall 
be  referred;  but  should  they  not  agree, 
either  party  may  refer  it  to  the  Green  Com- 
mittee of  the  green  where  the  dispute  oc- 
curs, and  their  decision  shall  be  final. 
Should  the  dispute  not  be  covered  by  the 
Rules  of  Golf,  the  arbiters  must  decide  it 
by  equity. 

RULING  OF  THE  U.    S.  G.   A. 

Such  decisions  may  be  finally  referred 
to  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  United 
States  Golf  Association. 


Special  Rules  for  Medal  Play 

RULE  1. 

In  club  competitions  the  competitor 
doing-  the  stipulated  course  in  fewest 
strokes  shall  be  the  winner. 

RULE  2. 

If  the  lowest  score  be  made  by  two  or 
more  competitors,  the  ties  shall  be  decided 
by  another  round  to  be  played  either  on  the 
same  day  or  on  any  other  day,  as  the  Cap- 
tain, or  in  his  absence  the  Secretary,  shall 
direct. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Except  that  By-laws  15  and  19  of  the 
United  States  Golf  Association  provide  that, 
in  case  of  ties  for  the  sixteenth  place  in  the 
amateur  championship  medal  rounds,  or  for 
the  eighth  place  in  the  women's  champion- 
ship medal  rounds,  respectively,  the  con- 
testants so  tied  shall  continue  to  play  until 
one  or  the  other  shall  have  gained  a  lead  by 
strokes,  the  hole  or  holes  to  be  played  out. 

RULE  3. 

New  holes  shall  be  made  for  the  medal 
round,  and  thereafter  no  member  shall 


Special  Rules  for  Medal  Play.     303 

play  any  stroke  on  the  putting-green  before 
competing-. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.  G.  A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule  is  dis- 
qualification. 

Competitors  must  always  assume  that 
new  holes  have  been  made,  whether  really 
made  or  not.  Trial  strokes  may  be  played 
throug-h  the  fair  green,  but  no  stroke  may 
be  played  within  twenty  yards  of  any  hole 
on  the  course  where  the  competition  takes 
place. 

In  match  play  competitions,  other  than 
bog-ey  competitions,  a  member  may  play 
upon  the  putting-  greens. 

RULE  4. 

The  scores  shall  be  kept  by  a  special 
marker,  or  by  the  competitors  noting-  each 
other's  scores.  The  scores  marked  shall 
be  checked  at  the  finish  of  each  hole.  On 
the  completion  of  the  course  the  score  of 
the  player  shall  be  signed  by  the  person 
keeping-  the  score  and  handed  to  the  Secre- 
tary. 

RULING   OF   THE  U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule  is  dis- 
qualification. 

The  score  must  be  handed  to  the  Secre- 
tary or  to  some  person  desig-nated  by  the 


304     Special  Rules  for  Medal  Play. 

Green  Committee.  A  caddie  may  not  keep 
score,  nor  may  an  outsider  (a  player  not  in 
competition)  playing-  with  a  competitor  do 
so  without  the  sanction  of  the  club's  ex- 
ecutive. 

It  is  commended,  but  not  required,  to 
mark  down  each  stroke  as  played. 
RULE  5. 

If  a  ball  be  lost,  the  player  shall  return 
as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  spot  where  the 
ball  was  struck,  tee  another  ball  and  lose  a 
stroke.  If  the  lost  ball  be  found  before  he 
has  struck  the  other  ball,  the  first  shall  con- 
tinue in  play. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.  A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule  is  dis- 
qualification. 

RULE  6. 

If  the  player's  ball  strike  himself  or  his 
clubs  or  caddie,  or  if  in  the  act  of  playing- 
the  player  strike  the  ball  twice,  the  penalty 
shall  be  one  stroke. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

If  the  player's  ball  strike  a  forecaddie, 
it  is  a  "  rub  of  the  green." 
RULE  7. 

If  a  competitor's  ball  strike  the  other 
player  or  his  club  or  caddie,  it  is  a  "rub  of 
the  green,"  and  the  ball  shall  be  played 
from  where  it  lies. 


Special  Rules  for  Medal  Play.     305 

RULE  8. 

A  ball  may,  under  a  penalty  of  two 
strokes,  be  lifted  out  of  a  difficulty  of  any 
description,  and  be  teed  behind  the  same. 

RULE  9. 

All  balls  shall  be  holed  out,  and  when 
play  is  on  the  putting-  green  the  flag  shall 
be  removed,  and  the  competitor  whose  ball 
is  nearest  to  the  hole  shall  have  the  option 
of  holing-  out  first,  or  of  lifting-  his  ball,  if 
it  be  in  such  a  position  that  it  mig-ht,  if  left, 
give  an  advantage  to  the  other  competitor. 
Throughout  the  green  a  competitor  can 
have  the  other  competitor's  ball  lifted,  if  he 
find  that  it  interferes  with  his  stroke. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.  G.   A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule  is  dis- 
qualification. 

Either  player  may  judge  whether  the 
balls  as  they  lie  give  the  other  an  ad- 
vantage. 

If  a  ball  at  rest  be  caused  by  any  agency 
outside  the  match  to  roll  into  the  hole,  the 
ball  shall  not  be  considered  as  holed  out  in 
the  previous  stroke,  but  shall  be  replaced 
as  nearly  as  possible  in  the  same  position 
as  occupied  before  it  was  displaced. 

Should  a  competitor  hole  out  with  a  ball 
other  than  his  own,  he  shall  be  disqualified, 


306    Special  Rules  for  Medal  Play. 

unless  he  can  go  back  and  resume  play  with 
his  original  ball,  or,  failing-  to  find  it,Teturn 
as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  spot  where  it 
was  last  struck,  tee  another  ball  and  lose  a 
stroke.  (Rule  5,  Medal  Play.) 

RULE  10. 

A  competitor  may  not  play  with  a  pro- 
fessional, and  he  may  not  receive  advice 
from  any  one  but  his  caddie. 

A  forecaddie  may  be  employed. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule  is  dis- 
qualification. 

Each  competitor  may  have  a  forecaddie. 

RULE  11. 

Competitors  may  not  discontinue  play 
because  of  bad  weather. 

RULING   OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Penalty  for  breach  of  this  rule  is  dis- 
qualification. 

RULE  12. 

The  penalty  for  a  breach  of  any  rule 
shall  be  disqualification. 

RULE   13. 

Any  dispute  regarding  the  play  shall  be 
determined  by  the  Green  Committee. 


Special  Rules  for  Medal  Play.     307 

RULING    OF   THE   U.    S.   G.   A. 

Such  decision  may  be  finally  referred  to 
the  Executive  Committee  of  the  United 
States  Golf  Association. 

RULE   14. 

The  ordinary  rules  of  golf ,  so  far  as  they 
are  not  at  variance  with  the  special  rules, 
shall  apply  to  medal  play. 


Etiquette  of  Golf 

THE  FOLLOWING    CUSTOMS    BELONG   TO   THE  ESTAB- 
LISHED ETIQUETTE  OF  GOLF,   AND  SHOULD 
BE  OBSERVED  BY  ALL  GOLFERS. 


1.  No  player,  caddie  or  on-looker  should 
move  or  talk  during-  a  stroke. 

2.  No  player  should  play  from  the  tee 
until  the  party  in  front  have  played  their 
second  strokes  and  are  out  of  rang-e,  nor 
play  to  the  putting-  green  till  the  party  in 
front  have  holed  out  and  moved  away. 

3.  The  player  who  leads  from  the  tee 
should  be  allowed  to  play  before  his  oppo- 
nent tees  his  ball. 

4.  Players  who  have  holed  out  should 
not  try  their  puts  over  again  when  other 
players  are  following-  them. 

5.  Players  looking-  for  a  lost  ball  must 
allow  any  other  match  coming-  up  to  pass 
them. 

6.  A  party  playing-  three  or  more  balls 
must  allow  a  two-ball  match  to  pass  them. 

7.  A   party    playing-   a  shorter  round 
must  allow  a  two-ball   match   playing  the 
whole  round  to  pass  them. 


309 


310  Etiquette  of  Golf. 

8.  A  player  should  not  put  at  the  hole 
when  the  flag-  is  in  it. 

9.  The  reckoning-  of  the  strokes  is  kept 
by   the   terms    "the  odd,"    "  two  more," 
"three  more,"  etc.,  and  "one  off  three," 
"one  of  two,"  "the  like."     The  reckoning- 
of  the  holes  is  kept  by  the  terms — so  many 
"holes    up"  —  or    "all   even"  —  and  —  so 
many  "to  play." 

10.  Turf  cut  or  displaced  by  a  stroke 
in  playing-  should  be  at  once  replaced. 


Index  for  Rules  of  Golf 


THE  ITALICS  REFER  TO  RULES  FOR  MEDAL  PLAY. 

RULE. 

Advice 37 

Advice 10 

Ball,  accidentally  moved  by  opponent,  etc 23 

covered  by  grass,  bushes,  etc 18 

"     deflected  or  stopped  by  agency  outside  the  match  22 

displacing  opponent's 36 

"     furthest  from  hole 9 

holing  out 9 

"     how  to  be  dropped 19 

"     in  golf  hole 7 

in  or  touching  a  hazard 14,  17 

"     in  water 21 

knocked  in  by  opponent's 36 

"     lifting 8 

"     lifting  partner's 9 

lifting  in  three-ball  match 32 

"      lodging  in  anything  moving 22 

"      lost    28 

"     lost 5 

moved  by  player,  partner,  etc .  25 

must  be  played  where  it  lies,  etc. 29 

on  clothes,  nets,  etc 17 

on  putting  green 22,  31,  32,  33 

played  by  wrong  side 27 

played  outside  limits  of  teeing  ground 3 

resting  against  flag  stick 35 

"     rolling 36 

shielding  from  or  exposing  to  wind 33 

split,  cracked  or  becoming  unplayable 38 

"     stuck  fast 13 

striking  opponent,  etc 23 

311 


312  Index. 

RULE. 

Ball,  striking  partner,  etc 7 

"     striking  player,  etc 6 

"     struck  from  tee  cannot  be  changed,  etc 10 

striking  player,  partner,  etc 24 

striking  twice 24 

"     striking  twice 6 

touched  by  player  when  not  making  stroke,  or 

by  partner,  etc 25 

when  considered  to  have  been  moved 26 

"     within  six  inches  of  another 20 

Breach  of  rules 12 

Clothes,  ball  on 17 

Club  competitions 1 

Disputes 40 

Disputes 13 

Dung,  how  to  be  removed 34 

Earth  lying  around  hole 34 

Fixed  obstacles 12 

Flag  stick 35 

Flag  stick  to  be  removed 9 

Forecaddie 10 

Game,  of  what  it  consists 2 

"       how  commences 5 

Golf  hole,  ball  in 17 

Ground  under  repair,  or  temporarily  covered  up 17 

Growing  obstacles 12 

Hazard,  definition  of 15 

Hole,  flag  stick  in 35 

sand,  earth,  worm  casts,  or  snow  lying  around .    34 

"       size  of ••••-    3 

Holes,  new 3 

Holing  out •  •    9 

Honor 7 

Irregularities  of  surface  may  not  be  pressed  down  —  16 

Loose  impediments  in  playing  through  green 11 

"  "  on  putting  green 31 

Match,  of  what  it  consists 2 

Markers ^  •  •    4 

Medal  round,  new  holes  for 3 


Index.  313 

RULE. 

Medal  play,  breach  of  rules 12 

"         "     ordinary  rules  applicable 14 

Mode  of  playing  game 1 

Nets,  ball  on 71 

Obstacles  fixed  or  growing 12 

Obstruction  on  course 17 

Penalty  stroke 39 

Playing  out  of  turn 6 

Professional,  competitors  may  not  play  with 10 

Putting  green,  definition  of 30 

"       loose  impediments  on 31 

"       no  mark  or  line  to  be  placed  on 33 

"       play  on 9 

"       playing  on  before  competing 3 

three  or  more  ball  match  on 32 

Recalling  stroke 9 

Rub  of  the  green . .  22 

Rub  of  the  green 7 

Sand  lying  around  hole 34 

Snow    "  "          "     34 

Stroke,  definition  of 4 

Teeing  ground 3 

Three  or  more  ball  match 32 

Ties 2 

Water,  ball  in 21 

Weather  bad 11 

Wind,  shielding  ball  from  or  exposing  to 33 

Worm  casts  lying  around  hole ,. 34 


PRESS  OF 

STROMBERG,  ALLEN  &  CO. 
CHICAGO. 


SPAULDING 

&  co. 

p  Goldsmiths,  Silversmiths    pHirArn 

i  AKJo  -    -          i  v^n iv^AVjvy 

and  Jewelers. 

Prizes  and 
Presentation  Pieces 

We  carry  at  all  times  a  large  assort- 
ment of  pieces  suitable  for  prizes — in  gold, 
silver  and  other  metals. 

Original   and 
Appropriate   Designs. 

An  important  feature  in  offering  a  prize 
is  to  get  something  entirely  appropriate. 
We  make  a  specialty  of  submitting  designs 
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executed  in  the  highest  style  of  the 
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&(^~       Cor.  Jackson  Boulevard  and 
v-'u> »   State  Street,  Chicago. 


JAMES  AND  DAVID  FOULIS 


(Late  of  St.  Andrews,  Scotland.} 

"  JAMES  FOULIS 
Open  Champion  of  America,  1896." 

Golf  Club  and   Ball 
Makers 

We  have  always  on  hand  a  large  se- 
lection of  Golf  Clubs  and  Balls,  made  of 
the  best  materials  and  with  the  finest 
workmanship. 

All  the  Requisites  of  the  Game. 

Clubs  made  to  pattern  a  specialty. 
Old  balls  remade.  Goods  sent  anywhere.  References:  Messrs. 
Whigham  and  Macdonald,  to  whom  we  are  the  exclusive  club  makers. 

SEND  FOR  Address  JAMES  AND  DAVID  FOULIS, 

PRICES  CHICAGO  GOLF  CLUB,  Wheaton,  111. 

GOODRICH  GOLF  BALLS 

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GUTTA  PERCHA 

BALL 

The  best  ball  possible 
to  make.  Clean  cut  and 
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If  you  have  never  tried 
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you  owe  it  to  your  score 
to  do  so.  Made  by  the 

B.F  GOODRICH  CO. 

AKRON,  OHIO. 

BRANCHES: 

NEW  YORK:  66-68  Reade  St. 
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SAN  FRANCISCO:  35  New  Montgom- 


Club  Outfits. 

One  of  the  features  of  our  establishment  is  the 
department  for  making  to  order,  in  their  respective 
colors,  outfits  for  cycling,  golf,  polo  and  other  pas- 
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the  intelligent  effort  of  masters  and  artisans  can 
produce.  We  have  made  complete  outfits  for 
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adoption  of  club  colors.  We  are  pleased  at  all 
times  to  be  of  service  to  clubs  in  this  matter. 
Inquiries  from  clubs  in  other  cities  will  receive 
careful  attention. 


Special  co  '- 
ors  can  be  se- 
lected from 
the  Standard 
Color  Book, 
which  is  used 
by  all  of 
the  English 
clubs. 


Combina- 
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made  which 
gives  each 
Club  their 
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Stocks  made  from  the  Club   Colors,  also 

HATBANDS,   BELTS,  CAPS,   LONG  SASH 

SUMMER   SUN    SHADES 

All  made  from  the  silks  which  are  used  by  the  various 
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WE  ARE  IMPORTERS  OF  CORRECT  WEAR  AS  WORN  BY 
CLUBS  THROUGHOUT  THE    STATES. 

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46  JACKSON  STREET,  CHICAGO 


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The  facilities  of  the  GORHAM  COMPANY,  SILVER- 
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Club  Committees  and  individuals  having  in  view  the  purchase  of 
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DR.   JOHNSON  ON  THE  LINKS. 

GOLF 


A  MONTHLY  ORGAN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  GOLF  ASSOCIATION. 

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WRITE  FOR 
DESCRIPTIVE  CATALOGUE 

The   Bridgeport   Gun   Implement  Co 

BRIDGEPORT,  CONN. 

313  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK. 


DROP- 
FORGED 


FINEST 
FINISH 


IRON  HEADS 

Of  Every  Shape 


Made  from 
Best 
Mild 
Steel 


J.  H. 
WILLIAMS  &  CO 


9-31  RICHARDS  ST. 
Near  Hamilton  Ferry 


BROOKLYN, 
NEW  YORK,  U.S.A. 


THE  GOLFER 

BOSTON. 

ESTABLISHED  1894 

An   Official  Organ  of  the  United  States  Golf  Association. 
An  Official  Organ  of  the  Intercollegiate  Association.     . 
An  Official  Organ  of  the  Central  New  1'ork  State  League. 


EDITED  BY  cJAA\ES  SHIELDS  AURPHY 


EXTRACTS  OF  NOTICES. 

THE  GOLFER  is  entirely  worthy  of  the  large  circu- 
lation it  enjoys.— The  Boston  Herald. 

THE  GOLFER  is  a  masterpiece  of  bookmaking.  The 
magazine  is  certainly  worthy  of  its  large  patronage. 

— The  Boston  Journal. 

THE  GOLFER  takes  first  rank  for  original  and  clever 
work,  and  is,  in  fact,  unexcelled  by  any  magazine  in 
the  United  States.— The  Boston  Post. 

THE  GOLFER  has  scored  very  heavily,  and  is  a  great 
success  and  is  entirely  worthy  of  it. — The  Boston  Traveller. 

THE  GOLFER  is  an  unusually  interesting  and  hand- 
some publication. — The  New  Tork  Sun. 

THE  GOLFER  is  a  monthly  organ  of  lovers  of  the 
Scotch  game.  It  is  beautifully  printed  and  handsomely 
illustrated.—  The  Home  Journal,  New  Tork. 

THE  GOLFER  is  entirely  worthy  of  the  players  of  the 
game,  as  it  is  a  beautiful  and  interesting  publication. 

—  Golf,  London,  England. 

THE  GOLFER,  our  American  namesake,  is  a  publica- 
tion fit  for  the  gods.     It  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired. 
—The  Golfer,  Edinburgh,  Scotland. 

We  desire  to  commend  to  our  readers  the  very  in- 
teresting publication.  THE  GOLFER.— The  Triangle. 

THE  GOLFER  is  a  great  success  and  is  of  great  in- 
terest to  every  one. — The  Roxbury  Gazette. 
HUNDREDS     OF    OTHER     JOURNALS    SPEAK   IN 
THE  SAME   STRAIN. 

THE    GOLFER    HAS    THE    UNANIMOUS    INDORSE- 
MENT  OF  ITS  ADVERTISERS. 


Subscription,  One  Dollar,  One  Year. 

THE  GOLFER,Boston,Mass. 


Professionals, 

Caretakers, 

Stewards,  Etc. 

Who  desire  to  sell  this  book  on  a  commission  basis, 
should  send  applications  to  the  publishers,  together 
with  references. 

The  book  sells    itself  to    those  who    are  inter- 
ested in  Golf.     Address 

HERBERT  S.  STONE  &  CO. 

CAXTON  BUILDING  CONSTABLE   BUILDING 

Chicago.  New  Tork. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


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